To receive the gift of God’s Son is to also get countless blessings and benefits from being in a relationship with Him.  But let’s be clear about one thing:  if you want what Jesus can do for your life but don’t want Jesus in your life, you won’t receive Him or His blessings.  Listen… He’s not just useful, He’s beautiful.  He’s not just resourceful, He’s delightful. He’s not just helpful, He’s wonderful.  Don’t you see?  Jesus doesn’t just give us gifts; He is the gift.  Being together with Him is the most precious gift He gives to us.  And the more time we spend in His presence, the more beautiful, delightful and wonderful He becomes to us.

Christmas is for stuck people.  People stuck in the past with its haunting reminders of what they have done.  People stuck in the present with an endless search for happiness in the wrong places.  People stuck in fear of the future with its paralyzing grip that prevents them from doing meaningful things. But Jesus came to liberate stuck people like you and me.  He was born to free us from the things that prevent us from experiencing all God has for us.  When Jesus lovingly gave Himself for you and me, the old us died and the new us came to life so we can live free from the bondage of sin as we live by faith in Him.

What does it mean to receive a gift?  It means the gift wasn’t rejected, ignored or misused. Instead, it was worn, admired, eaten, enjoyed, watched, sprayed on, driven, listened to, put to work or played with as it was intended.  An untouched gift is an unreceived gift.  That’s why some people become believers and some do not. They embrace the life offered in Jesus or they live as if He isn’t even there.  We know we have received the Christmas Gift of God’s Son by how He changes our lives.  As children of God, we trust, obey, love and enjoy Jesus, and are transformed, empowered and blessed by Jesus. Just as God intends.

Christmas is a broken string of lights for many of us.   It’s there, but it doesn’t seem to do what it’s supposed to do.  It’s bleak, not bright.  It’s melancholy, not merry.  This time of year is disappointing and depressing for a lot of people for a lot of reasons.  We’re a broken people in a broken world where there is much that is not as it ought to be.  But there is hope for us, because Jesus came for the very reason so many struggle in this season … to fix what has been fractured in us and our world.   As we wait for this to happen, let us turn to Him in our present darkness and ask Him to shine His everlasting light in our hearts.

This time of year is not about me.  And it’s not about you.  Yet, it’s easy to make it about us, isn’t it?  We can get caught up in what we enjoy about, what we receive because of, and what we get to do during Christmastime and spend very little time getting caught up with Christ.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year not because of the festive music, favorite movies, familiar decorations or family traditions that can rightly be a part of our holiday experience; it’s a time of celebration and jubilation and exaltation of Jesus.  This year, may everything that is wonderful about Christmas make us full of wonder about Christ.

If there was no Christmas, there would be no hope for us.  At His first coming, Jesus took our place so we can be with Him for eternity.  At His second coming, Jesus will take us to a place where we can be with Him for eternity.  Right now, it is easy to lose hope when we lose a loved one, lose a job, lose control, lose our health or lose our way, but a joy-filled, peace-filled hope is ours if we believe.  We are promised Jesus will be with us in time of need, give to us all that we need, and one day put an end to our needs.  Until then, we wait.  But, because of Christmas, we wait in an abounding hope that the best is yet to come.

The birth of Jesus was the earthly beginning of our acquittal.  Not guilty.  But it happened.  Not guilty.  But You saw it.  Not guilty.  But I did it.  Not guilty.  But I owe for it. Not guilty.  When we repent and believe the gospel, God applies the perfect life of Jesus and the atoning death of Jesus to our record and justifies us.   It’s just as if we never sinned and just as if we always obeyed.  We who really are guilty of sin are set free.  Free from shame.  Free from judgement.  Free from punishment.  Instead, we get every blessing found in knowing God. Rejoice today, for Jesus has the final word for those who are trusting in Him:  Not guilty.

Jesus willingly exchanged all the wealth of His deity for the poverty of His humanity when He came to dwell on earth.  Why?  For. Our. Sake. We couldn’t live up to God’s standards, so Jesus lived perfectly for us.  We couldn’t break free from sin, so He set us free.  We couldn’t atone for our transgressions, so He died in our place.  We couldn’t defeat death, so He conquered the grave so we too will rise. We couldn’t earn an eternal retirement, so He paid for our inheritance.  We have become rich through the finished work of Jesus.  And long before it was finished at Calvary, it was started in Bethlehem.  For our sake.

When was the last time you thought about eternity and what it would be like to perish forever?  When was the last time you rejoiced that you have a completely different eternity awaiting because God gave His Son? When was the last time you considered the implications of receiving this gift? Everything bad is turned around and traded in for good when we trust in Jesus!  In Jesus we are given a countless list of blessings with each entry having sub-lists of countless more benefits that we enjoy now in part and will enjoy fully throughout eternity. Rejoice today in God’s Son.  He’s the Christmas Gift that keeps on giving.

The bad news that is plastered all over social media and news media stories will leave us disturbed and discouraged if we don’t remind ourselves of the good news of the Greatest Story Ever Told.  Every day we must remember Who Jesus is to us and what He does for us.  The more we trust in the angel’s message that a Savior and Lord has arrived to rescue us from bad and rule over us for good, the more we will experience real joy in our hearts. Today, don’t fill your mind with the garbage of this world, but rather fix your mind on the glorious good news of Jesus.  This leads to great rejoicing for all people who believe.

Advent is a time of hopeful waiting.  The question is:  what are we waiting for?  Life will frequently leave us disappointed and dissatisfied if we are waiting for the right time when the right things have come and made us feel the right way.  So…  We wait.  And we wait.  And we wait our lives away. We will never find lasting satisfaction in the people, pleasures and possessions of earth.  We weren’t mean to.  As we wait for the second coming of Jesus, let us look to Him to be for us and give to us what this world never can:  the gift of real contentedness.  It’s not about what we have in our lives; it’s about Who we have in our hearts.

The sights, sounds and smells of Christmastime should cause us to pause and celebrate Christ.  As we see the glow of lights, let our own hearts be merry and bright because the Light of the world has come.  As we hear holiday music, let us smile because Jesus has put a new song in our hearts.  As we walk past the Salvation Army worker, let us remember Jesus came to work for our salvation.  It’s all there: the CHORUS of praise, the WRAPPING of swaddling clothes, the TREE made into a cross, the GIFT of eternal life. May every fleck of tinsel, note of a carol and morsel of a cookie remind us:  Jesus is the reason for the season.

Our sin prevents nearness to God because it separates us from Him with no possible way from our side to get to Him.  Christmas reminds us Jesus came to live, die and rise so you and I can draw near to God.  All who trust in Jesus for forgiveness and freedom from sin are no longer distant from real peace, real hope, real joy, real comfort, real security, real wisdom, and real love because we are no longer distant from God where these things are found. Our Immanuel made a way for us to get forgiven, get real life, get to heaven and get to God.  Rejoice today over this truth: When we could not get to Him, Jesus came to us.

Our thoughts have the power to shape us, for better or for worse, so we must let our minds land most often on Jesus. His Good News message is full of life-changing truths and promises that will guide us into a right perspective on every life issue.  It changes how we see our past so we can know real freedom from guilt and shame.  It changes how we see our present so we can know real purpose and peace in the midst of busyness.  It changes how we see our future so we can know real hope as we joyfully anticipate what lies ahead. The more we think about Jesus, the more it will rewire how we think about everything else.

Even as Christians, one of the human weaknesses that we must continue to seek divine strength to overcome is our bent to be selfish.  We need the mind and heart of Christ:  a mind that regularly thinks of others rather than just ourselves, and a heart that is compassionate enough to serve and support others even at our own expense.  It should be the golden rule, not the exception, to give up what we want so others can get what they need.  That is when we are like Jesus. Today, go out of your way to do for others, joyfully remembering this:  Jesus went out of His way from heaven to earth to the cross to do for you.

There may be empty seats at the table this year.  Whether it’s because loved ones are far from home, or have gone home to be with Jesus, we will miss them as we gather to give thanks. Yet, we will give thanks.  For God has been good to us, so very good to us, all the days of our lives.  And part of our thanks this year will be for the ways God has blessed us through the ones who are not with us.  The love we have shared. The memories we have made. The joy we have experienced together. Let us remember those who aren’t at their place at the table, and let us remember to give thanks to God for their place in our hearts.

We can be grateful for many things, and we should be.  We can be grateful to many people, and we should be.  We can be grateful on many occasions, and we should be.  But there is One who makes every good thing, every good person and every good occasion in our lives possible by His amazing grace.  God sent Jesus to be perfect for us because we aren’t, absorb wrath for sin so we don’t, and secure the blessings for us that we can’t.  Jesus paid our sin penalty and paid for our special privileges so that we might be forgiven, freed and favored. Today and every day, let us offer thanks for His giving.

The sweetest of all thankfulness isn’t superficial; it goes deep.  It goes past feeling happy that certain things are in our lives.  It goes past naming those things so it is known that we appreciate them.  It goes past even tracing their origin back to God and thanking the Giver for all of our blessings.  There is a delightful, wonderful, beautiful experience when our gratitude is not merely directed toward God for His gifts, but toward God for Himself.  We give thanks that among many things, He is a holy, loving, kind and gracious Father. The way to be best thankful for all that God has given us is to be most thankful for Him.

For all who trust in Jesus, there is a glorious eternity ahead in which bad things will be eliminated, good things will be perfected, and the best things will be unveiled.  We have an eternity with Him that… Never gets stale.  Never gets boring.  Never gets routine.  Never gets unappealing.  Never gets finished.  There will always be more to discover and enjoy from the immeasurable riches of God’s grace towards us in Christ Jesus.  Don’t live for this day; live for that day.  Don’t be discouraged by this day; be encouraged by that day.  Take hope in this every day:  For those who are trusting in Jesus, the best is always yet to come.

God is always near to His people in every situation and season.  In good and bad times.  In easy and hard times.  In happy and sad times.  He is not distant or absent, but rather present and constant.  As the Father, He was near as He dwelt in the cloud, fire and tabernacle.  As the Son, He drew near in His incarnation, dwelling in flesh to save us.  As the Spirit, He is permanently, personally near, indwelling those who trust in Him. His nearness means we can experience the strength, hope, joy, peace, rest, security, guidance and delight of being in His presence.  Sing praises to our God!  He is always near.