The Gift of Christmas

Merry Christmas

Why are we celebrating Christmas? Christmas is a continual gift and every year we celebrated this Holy season to reminder ourselves of marvelous joy and peace of heart we received through that gift, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Christmas is a story of joy for all. Have you searched for the new born Savior you heard?  If your main focus is material gifts you may get disappointed, but if you search for the real Christmas gift this year which is the Savior Jesus Christ, you will find the everlasting joy you are longing for. The shepherds walked far away to find this gift and when they found it, they returned with the everlasting joy. When the shepherds heard the good news their response was, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us” (Luke 2:15b). Even angels sang because this was the biggest gift to humanity. We are blessed to have this gift beyond our comprehensions. Let us celebrate this gift with gladness and with the influential grace of that gift to point those who have not received this Christmas gift to the road of Bethlehem. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to man on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14). This is the Christmas news.

“The shepherd returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told” (Luke 2: 20). The joy of Christmas is when you find the Christ and worship him. He gives the gift of eternal life and all he asks in return is to give the gifts of our hearts. Let us worship Him like the wise with our heart and our gifts this season as we search for Him. King Herod sent the magi to found where Christ was and reported to him so he might destroy Him, but when the magi saw the Savior they rejoiced to see the gift of God to humanity.  “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route” (Matthew 2:9-12).

We all are waiting for a gift, but let us not miss the real Christmas gift. Simeon found the gift because he sought and waited patiently for this gift. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismissyour servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel” (2:25-32). Let us celebrate Christmas with a spirit of holy joy. We have Christmas today because God has and continually looks upon us with grace and favor. Remember Christmas is about God’s gift to us, so let us received it with joy and give God our heart of worship. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).