The Gifts of Christmas
By: Mary Stockland
Tags: Christmas, Hope, Bible, Jesus, Christianity

Photo by Freestocks on Unsplash

Well, here we are, Christmas in the year 2020, and what a challenging year it has been.

When I think of the meaning of Christmas there are many things that come to mind. I think of the reason for the season; the birth of Jesus, and ALL the miracles that came along with this event.

Miracles such as;

how the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and spoke of things to come her way. The angel terrified Mary, yet with the heart of a true servant, she submitted to her calling, and from her came the miracle birth of Jesus!

Then we have the miracle of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled to a tee! A mere few of those prophecies are,

“He will come from the line of David”;

“He will be born of a virgin”;

“He will be born in Bethlehem”; and

“Jesus would be worshipped by shepherds from the desert, and foreign kings would present gifts to Him.”

Just as it is written, an angel of the Lord appeared to lowly shepherds, terrifying them. With the angel’s presence came the glory of the Lord. It must have been so magnificent, bright, and glorious to terrify them so.

The angel spoke that a Savior had been born in the city of David! If that wasn’t enough, a Heavenly host of angels then appear and begin to praise God!

After 400 years of God’s silence, He speaks through the birth of His Son, Jesus. Emmanuel! Our Savior is NOW with us!

Truly fascinating miracles!

The next special meaning of Christmas is, of course, gathering with family and friends, sharing time with the ones we love and are blessed to have in our lives.

And lastly, I think of gift-giving! I mean come on; it just would not be Christmas without presents, right?

Photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash

But this past week I have thought quite a bit about the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus and His earthly parents. First, they gave the gift of their time and energy to travel a great distance to worship the newborn King. It is presumed they traveled 800 miles on camels, which took them approximately two to three months to complete their journey.

Then we have the presents they brought. Gifts of great value, as well as prophetic importance.

They gave gold; a gift fit for royalty, so appropriate for King Jesus.

They gave Frankincense; a gift of aromatic incense, perfect for such a pure Priest of God.

They gave Myrrh; a gift of a bittersweet scented oil associated with anointing a new king, and ironically also used for death and burial.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

I’d like to ask you if you could give Jesus a gift this Christmas season, what could YOU give? What sort of present would He cherish from you and from me?

I think a wonderful gift would be our time. Yes, we could spend time with Him in prayer, or spend time in His Word, growing in our knowledge and wisdom of His greatness.

He would love this gift from us!

Another gift we could give Jesus is what is troubling us. Give Him our worry, our fears, our anger, or bitterness. He would love for us to tell Him about our grief, or broken relationships, rejection, or pain.

We can give Him our depression, addictions, sickness, or financial woes.

He understands these feelings better than anyone else, so why not pour our hearts out to Him and just watch what He can give us in return!

Next, we could give Him the gift of our gratitude. Thank Him and praise Him for this Christmas, for what we do have, for His provisions in our lives; and let Jesus know how grateful we are, especially for the gift of salvation that we have in the belief of Jesus’ birth, death, resurrection and His soon return!

These are great gifts that He would absolutely cherish.

This Christmas, if you never have before, would you consider preparing room for Jesus and give Him the gift of your heart? Your gift of His acceptance will shower you with His love beyond what you could ever imagine, and in return, HE will give you the greatest gift known to mankind — eternal life in Heaven with Jesus Himself!

Wow! Such a selfless and great gift of love!

For God so loved you and me, that He sent His One and Only Son.

One Baby that changed EVERYTHING!

Jesus truly is the most wonderful Christmas gift, ever!