“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
And His name shall be called;
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Why?
More than 2000 years ago, Jesus emptied Himself as God, was born of a virgin and was found, by those that came that night to see Him, laying in a manger. Roughly 700 before that, it was Ahaz that spoke the words “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel” (7:14) and the prophet Isaiah went on to document the prophecy of the coming of this child in the verse of the day.
So why does this matter, why is this such a big deal? Well, for the 7 billion people on this spinning ball, this is Christmas. Most everyone celebrates Christmas, but for believers, it is so much more. It marks the first coming of our Lord and Savior, and if you really look at it, Christmas begins with Christ!
A Gift that should keep on giving
I know Christmas is over. Well, Christmas “day” is over, but should it be? This is the one time each year that gifts are freely given and gladness is felt all around. We have the power to let the spirit of Christmas live on all year long.
But what is Christmas really? Well, in retrospect, it is a month of baking those cookies, shopping for those gifts, planning that Christmas dinner, cleaning the house, decorating the tree, shipping those out-of-town gifts and signing, addressing and mailing those Christmas cards. Some even add the stress of getting that perfect family Christmas photo. And then there are all those traditions to keep up with.
But for me, it really has turned into a month of stress. I used to look forward to this time of year, but in the recent years, I haven’t and each year I keep wondering why. I mean, Christmas is the time of year where people are more generous, they smile more, give more, there is this spirit of friendliness all around. Everyone just feels glad! So why haven’t I lately?
It occurred to me earlier in the year when I was reading Isaiah and came to chapter 9 verse 6. The birth, titles and position (or duty, for lack of a better word) of Jesus was foretold.
His birth; for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given
His titles; and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace
His position/duty; and the government shall be upon His shoulders
The Greatest Gifts
But the part that really got me thinking and connecting Christmas is the second half of the first line, “… unto us a son given”. Given. A Son is given. God’s son is given. God gave us His Son!
And this is where the spirit of Christmas took off for me.
We didn’t ask for His son, we didn’t give God a wish list of things we wanted, and God certainly did not and has not asked, “hey kids, what do you want for Christmas?” (I say “we” here because this “need” extends to us today, it wasn’t just for the Israelites all those years ago).
God gave us His son because it’s what He knew we needed. He gave us what He wanted us to have. He gave us His son because He knew we needed a Savior because He wanted us to have a relationship with Him. The first greatest Christmas gift!
The second greatest Christmas gift that I have ever received was a variety of gloves containing a pair of heavy-duty work gloves and several styles of gardening gloves. I know, you’re thinking “what?” But I loved this gift because my hubby saw that I needed gloves and on his own bought me what he wanted me to have because he knew I needed them. In the famous words of Bigweld from the movie Robots, “See a need, fill a need”. My husband saw my need for gloves, so he filled that need.
God did it first. He saw a need and filled that need by giving us the most precious gift that could ever be given, and we didn’t even know we needed it and sadly, we didn’t want it. But God knew and still today, knows better.
Thank you Lord!
A gifting Formula
So how does your gift giving go each Christmas? Do you give gifts you want your loved ones to have? Are they gifts you know they need? And what about the gifts you receive. Are they what you wanted or are they things you truly needed?
It gets tough when you are down to the wire (Christmas Eve), and you have to get something. I’ll admit wish lists are helpful, but if we want to get into the true spirit of gift giving and make them meaningful gifts, ones we want them to have because it is something we know they need, I have a gift giving formula that might help. It ensures you won’t overdo it on gifts because it limits you to just four! It goes like this:
Something they want,
something they need,
something to wear and
something to read.
Merry Christmas
I do wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May God bless you and your family and may you continually feel His presents/presence (lol). He gave us the greatest gift ever, what can we gift back to Him?
