‘This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.’ 1 John 4:10 (NIV)

The ad campaigns have started, the shop windows are being dressed and the shops are getting busier and busier as people buy gifts and presents to be given to family, friends and colleagues. Millions will be spent on gifts across our land and the burden will be felt by many families yet in the midst of all the business and spending there will be a gift that is ignored by many. Imagine if you were offered a gift that is priceless, a gift that is so precious that people have died to protect it, a gift that brings what the world cannot give; peace, love and joy, would you not grab it with both hands? Yet this gift that lies at the very heart of the season is, in so many cases, ignored and not even considered. That gift of course is not an ‘it’ but a ‘who’, in the person of Jesus Christ. God sent his Son into this world to reconcile the world to himself, Jesus was the wonderful gift graciously given by our Heavenly Father to make this possible because there is nothing we can give, no price we can pay, no amount of work we can do that makes this possible. As John Piper writes:
‘…if you want what Jesus has to give, you can’t buy it. You can’t trade for it. You can’t work for it. He already owns your money and everything you have. And when you work, it is only because he has given life and breath and everything.’
There will be a small fortune spent on things that are passing and fleeting this Christmas yet the greatest gift that we can receive is given freely to those that are willing to receive it. The relationship between ourselves and a Holy Heavenly Father can only be restored in one way. No amount of money, no amount of good deeds, no amount of living a good life or works will restore what is broken. The only one that can do that is the one who came in the form of an infant, and whose arrival we celebrate at this time of year. However as we look at the manger this year let us not lose sight of the cross where Jesus died for our sins. Let us remember the high cost the gift cost our Heavenly Father and how freely he offers it to us.
May the Lord bless you in His service over this festive period.

Gordon