Giving & Receiving………

Merry Christmas Eve!  I hope you are surrounded by friends, and family.  Some families exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, some Christmas morning.  Gifts, at their best, are given with no expectations in return, they are given out of a desire to express love and appreciation.  We use the time of Christmas to do that for those we love and want to express that love, by trying to give them something we hope they will value. Of course the greatest gift is the original gift that started the celebration of Christmas, the Christ child!

On the way home from church yesterday morning my grandson, Elijah, read a quote from his ornament that he received in Sunday school.  It said, “Give the Lord your best, whatever it may  be, for Jesus will accept your gift joyfully!”

On the Eve of Christmas I want to talk for just a moment about what would make a great gift for Him. I believe that what He wants most is our hearts.  Have you ever heard the expression “the hearts desire”?  Of course you have, and it means what our hearts want most of all.  What His heart wants most of all is our acceptance of His forgiveness, and inviting Him into our lives and hearts.   Jesus came to earth for only one reason, YOU.  Yes, if there had been no one else on earth, except you, He still would have come to save you.

Some people recoil at the word save, but in reality that is exactly what He did.  We are all sinners, which means we have fallen short of what God wanted for us.  Our only hope was a sacrifice for our sins, instead of us paying the penalty of death, for our sins, Jesus took our punishment on Himself.  His death was the payment for all our sins.  If we accept that, and accept Him, we are forgiven.

Once forgiven, we have a deep desire to honor Him for all He has done for us.  This is where the gift comes in!  The only thing Jesus asked us to do because of His sacrifice was accept Him and then tell others that Good News Story!  If you were once lost, and then someone found you, and saved you from certain death, wouldn’t you want to tell others that are lost the wonderful story of Jesus!!??

So if you haven’t given Jesus the gift He really wants, you have some last minute shopping to do, and it’s easy, you don’t even have to brave the mall tonight, just go before Him and say I want you to have my heart and my life, His joy will be unimaginable!

Merry Christmas Eve,

the pilgrim