5th December 2023
Christmas unwrapped – the greatest gift
This is the second in a series of Christmas studies.
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
2 Corinthians 9:15 (NIVUK)
We are fast approaching that time of year when gifts are given. Some gifts will be given out of love and concern for the other person. Some will be given grudgingly out of a sense of duty. Some will be expensive, others cheap. Some will be just what you’ve always wanted, and others will be put in a box for the next jumble sale. Socks, perfume, and jumpers will be high on the list while a Porsche might have to wait for another year.
There is, however, one gift that cannot wait for another year. It is so important that it needs to be at the very top of our list. In fact, ‘No language can praise it enough!’ (2 Corinthians 9:15 MSG).
That gift is Jesus Christ. He didn’t just ‘come’ to this earth; he was given as a gift: ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…’ (Isaiah 9:6 NIVUK emphasis mine). This gift was given out of love and concern: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ (John 3:16 emphasis mine).
This gift was extremely expensive. It was Bonhoeffer who taught that grace is free, but not cheap, and that costly grace is the Incarnation of God.1 That’s because we were ‘…bought at a price’ (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23), bought by the precious blood of Jesus (Acts 20:28).
This gift is just what we all need: ‘…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ and ‘…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 3:23, 6:23 emphasis mine).
The gift of Jesus is the greatest gift a person can ever be given. Don’t leave him in the box
for another year, unwrap him today, and then, ‘Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!’ (2 Corinthians 9:15 NLT).
Prayer
Loving Father, thank you for the gift of your Son Jesus, whom you gave to us, not reluctantly or under compulsion, but graciously and cheerfully. Help us to enjoy your gift forever. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Barry Robinson
1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.
About the writer:
Barry Robinson is a minister in Grace Communion International and Regional Pastor for Southern England, the Midlands, and Wales
Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA
Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm
Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church