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The Gift
Published: 20/12/2011 by Troy Sturrup
Gift Noun : a thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present
What is a really good gift? The higher the value the better the gift right? Lexus makes the most of that very idea during the Christmas season. They have commercials running in a seemingly endless loop. For some jewelry is the thing that floats our boat, but the feeling that those high value gifts are most treasured remains constant.
What about life? Would the gift of life be considered valuable? Christ was the gift of life to the world, we believers choose this time of year to remember the day that God became man, we celebrate the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
Gifts always have purpose! We may give a gift because we value the person to whom the is given. The gift is meant to express that value. We may also give a gift to bring happiness to the receiver of that gift. But there is always a purpose.
Too often we expect a gift in return, but a true gift is given without expecting reciprocation.
The purpose of Christ coming, God’s gift to us, was and is to give us life! He ultimately died so that we may live. As we all know we have a knack for screwing things up. We have the best of intentions but somehow we are wired in such a way that things go south. This means that we cannot please God who demands from us perfection, no screw ups allowed. We are doomed to be separated from God because he cannot accept even the smallest of mistakes, after all he is perfection.
Christ’s purpose: to sacrifice Himself ( He is perfect, and lived a perfect life) to appease God on our behalf. That is why He is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (us).
God’s gift to us is life (life with Him and in Him). There is no earning God’s forgiveness because we can’t (we screw up). There is no way, no how, no nothing that we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God. We always screw up! God’s gift then is a free gift of lift. This gift of lift can only come through KNOWING that Christ appeased God through His death on our behalf (faith). He through His death made a way that we can live with God by paying our debt of sin, freely. Like all good gifts this does not come with strings attached… God knows we screw up. We can live by faith that God accepts us because of Christ’s death on our behalf.
Accept God’s gift this Christmas! Celebrate Christ!
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” new living translation.
