By Wayne D. Hannah
Director of Missions
Blue Ridge Baptist Association
One of the practiced customs of celebrating of Christ’s birth is the tradition of giving gifts.
This practice may be based on the gifts that the Wisemen brought to Jesus. But the important thing to remember is that those gifts were for Christ and indicative of His life and purpose.
Though the giving of gifts is enjoyable both to the giver and the receiver, yet we need to think of the importance of giving gifts to our Lord and Savior.
As Christ was willing to give Himself as a sacrifice for our forgiveness and salvation, we need to think about the gifts we are to give to Him.
The most important gift we can give to Christ is the gift of self. Just as He gave Himself for us, we should be willing to give our life to Him.
The way we can give our life to Christ is by first accepting Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus is the way and the only way unto eternal life. He is the door to life eternal!
“I am the door; If any one enters by Me, he will be saved….I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for His sheep.” (John 10:9 and 11) God’s Word tells us that “greater love hath no one than this, than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
“You are my friends, if you do what so ever I command you.” (John 13-14)
And his first command is to believe in Him. Just as He gave His life as a sacrifice for our sins, we are to be sacrifices for Him. As the apostle Paul in writing to the Christians in Rome said, “I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:11)
We do this by living the kind of life that reflects the character, the attitudes and life style of our Lord! As the hymn writer expressed it “Living for Jesus, a life that is true, seeking it pleases Him in all that I do, yielding allegency glad hearted and free; this is the pathway of service for me.”
So as Christ gave His life for us, dying on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and providing a way to eternal life for us, He desired us to be living sacrifices for Him.
Christ calls us to be living witnesses of His love and His way of living life, by the way we live our lives. His command is not to die for Him, but to live for Him.
He desires for us to live in such a way that others would see Him in our life. This is what we know as the New Birth experience, being born into His way, His family, and His style of living.
That is the only way that we can become living sacrifices. It is obeying His command to take up our cross and follow Him. Taking up our cross is dedicating our life as His disciples.
It is a life style that reflects the glory of God and makes it possible for people to “behold His glory, as of the only begotten of the Father of grace and truth” (John 1:14)
That is our purpose that others would see Jesus in us, that they also would come to His salvation. For it is desire that no one perish. (II Peter 3:9) though that is His desire, the decision is up to the individual person to accept Him as their Savior.
It is for this reason that He came to earth in the flesh and it is the reason that we celebrate His birth. As John—in his gospel expresses—the nativity narrative. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God!”
So in this season of celebration that we call Christmas, we celebrate the fact that God became flesh and dwelt among us.
And His name shall be called Emmanuel, which is translated, “God with us.”
Christmas is a reminder that God is with us and God is for us. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:39) “But thanks be unto God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 15:57-58). I wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Yours in Christ’s love.
