Gift Wrapped

This Christmas Season our daughter will spend three days wrapping gifts at a book store in Wichita, KS. Some people still enjoy a wrapped gift. Those who buy a gift and have it wrapped can make a donation to her charity. She in turn is giving these donations as a gift to buy medical supplies for a missionary couple in the Philippians.

Gift wrapping could become a “lost art.” Instead of wrapping a gift, many people leave the gift in a decorative sack with some ribbon attached and give the gift that way. For that reason, there are not as many gifts wrapped as in the past. However, some still like the beautifully wrapped gifts so that with joy, they can watch their children or grand children rip them open on Christmas Day.

The most precious and beautifully wrapped gift ever, was wrapped many years ago by a young girl named Mary. “. . . and the time came for the baby (Christ Jesus) to be born, and she gave birth to her first born, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and laid Him in a manager” (Luke 2:6-7) NIV. Jesus Christ coming to earth as a baby was a gift from God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . .” (John 3:16 a) As you look at the wrapped gifts under your Christmas tree this season, hopefully they will remind you of the Perfect Gift ever wrapped.

If you have ever watched the TV show “Funniest Home Videos,” you have seen them sometimes show a child opening a Christmas gift, and the child expresses disappointment in the gift, throwing it across the room. Just as a parent feels hurt at their child’s disappointment in the gift, so God is hurt when the gift of His Son is rejected.

When we receive this gift that God has given, His Son Christ Jesus, as our Lord and Savior, we receive the gift of eternal life. The apostle Paul said, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) The best gift that you could receive this Christmas is this gift God wants to give you, the gift of eternal life. You receive it by faith in Christ Jesus. “For by grace are you saved through faith . . . it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)