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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.