Love, Jesus
Love, Jesus
As a teenager, I was so excited to see my name on a name tag on a carefully wrapped present. I couldn’t wait for Christmas. I remember carefully unwrapping the present, checking out the contents, and, with care, wrapping the gift back up.
Speaking of name tags, wouldn’t it be awesome to see a tag with our name on it AND after the “From” it said: “Merry Christmas, Love, Jesus”?
I think I would carefully unwrap the gift with awe and wonder because it must surely be the perfect gift. What could that package possibly hold? Maybe the gift is:
• a wonderful trip to see the most beautiful places God created.
• something we can eat or drink that provides a miracle of health and healing.
• something we can put on a shelf as a constant reminder of His love.
Whatever the package contains, Jesus made sure it was love-coated! Sometimes we forget that Jesus loves us and wants to bless our lives with the best things. It might sound irreverent, selfish, and self-centered to think that we can ask Jesus for gifts.
But don’t think that we can’t or shouldn’t ask. Where did we get the idea that asking Jesus for things is wrong? Why is it okay to tell Santa our Christmas wishes, but not Jesus?
When Jesus was preaching the Sermon on the Mount, He said: “ASK, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)
The operative word is ASK. Jesus points out that everyone who asks, receives; everyone who seeks will find. And to flip the script, as God’s children, shouldn’t we be asking, “Father God, what would YOU like for Christmas?”
I’m sure His answer would be very clear. “Give me YOU! Be in relationship with Me.” That relationship gift with God is a “never-ending one — GUARANTEED!
Jesus gave Himself for Christmas. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and presented to the world with a tag that still reads “Love, Jesus.” Jesus died to give us Himself as that gift. Is that Gift like the “elf on a shelf” just for the imagination? Or is He, the Giver AND the Gift, the King come down to earth as the sweet Baby Holy Child Who came that we might have abundant life from here to eternity?
There is no greater gift, and we have no greater Giver than the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s pray that every day we will turn our hearts to the Giver, acknowledging Him and praising Him with a heart of gratitude for being our Savior and Lord. Best Gift and Giver EVER!