Can you remember the best Christmas gift you ever received?

Maybe it was a special toy, THE toy of the year like a Cabbage Patch Kid doll. This doll stirred a craze in 1984 as desperate parents went to extreme lengths to get their hands on one. (This was the inspiration for the film Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger).

We lived far away from some of our relatives so a special Christmas gift some years was the cross-country drive to spend Christmas together.

Maybe your gift was even life changing like a marriage proposal or the birth of a child.

As memorable as some of these toys are and as wonderful as a Christmas surprise like a newborn baby is, they are not the best Christmas present you’ve ever been given.

Christmas is a celebration of the birth of another baby – Jesus. But not just any baby, Jesus is “Immanuel” which means “God with us.”

You see we were created to be in a glorious relationship with God but our selfish, sin-soaked lives make it impossible. We can’t be good enough or do enough good deeds to fix our relationship.

We can’t get to God on our own but the great news is that God came to us.

John, one of Jesus’ disciples, wrote,

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:9-14)

Jesus left His rightful place in Heaven and took on flesh in our broken world, the world He created. He lived the sinless life we can’t. He died in a horrible Roman execution BUT rose from the dead three days later. All of this fulfilled prophecies from hundreds of years before and all of this means that the perfect Christmas gift is now offered to each one of us.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-19)

You’ve been offered an amazing gift: reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sins, an amazing eternity with a loving God. It’s a gift, you don’t need to do anything to earn it, you just have to accept it.

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved… Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9,13)

If you are already a Christ-follower, celebrate His birth and the wonderful gift He’s given you. If you haven’t accepted this free and amazing gift yet, don’t miss out, today is the day of salvation. It’s the most important decision you will ever make.

Merry Christmas to all!