It was some years ago that one of my students alerted me to the fact of
what some people spend on presents at Christmas. She was telling me what her
mother had promised to buy her for Christmas, not in terms of tens of pounds
but in hundreds. I commented about how wealthy her mother must be to afford to
spend such large amounts on her, only to be told that her mother would borrow
the money in order to fund such generosity. It got me thinking. Is this how we
measure a parent’s love for their child? Is the quality of a child’s Christmas
judged in terms of the value of the presents they receive?
However, this is not a rant at the commercialism and exploitation that
is so often a key feature of Christmas. What I find most upsetting is that in
the dazzle of the Christmas lights and the fervour of Christmas shopping we
have lost sight of what the festival is supposed to be all about. Christmas is
supposed to be about Christ! It would be easy to dismiss the point because we
don’t actually know what time of year Jesus Christ was born. But there is
sufficient historical evidence to know that He was born and He did live in
Israel. Indeed, we wouldn’t have a year 2015 if it wasn’t for His coming – the way
in which we calculate the year is determined from the point at which men have
assessed He was born.
Whether we look at our presents this Christmas and calculate how much
people have spent on us or not, have we ever stopped to think of the present
God gave to human kind some 2000 years ago? One thing is sure, we can measure
God’s love by the value of what He gave – ‘For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son’.[1]
But it was not just that God gave His Son to be born, or to live a good life.
He gave His Son that He might die upon a Roman cross and suffer untold agony
and grief. Why? The Bible puts it this way: ‘But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us’.[2]
The death of the Lord Jesus was for us – you and me! In reality, Jesus died
that we might have forgiveness and cleansing from our sin and its defilement.
He died to bear the penalty for our sin and provide a means of reconciliation
to God. The Bible says He, Jesus, ‘was delivered for our offences’,[3]
and that we can be ‘reconciled to God by the death of his Son’.[4]
Perhaps this Christmas we might think about that verse from the Bible: ‘For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given’.[5]
God gave us His Son. What have we given to God in return? Have we given Him our
life, or have we ignored that most costly gift, or, worse still, thrown it back
in His face?
[1]
John chapter 3 verse 16
[2]
Romans chapter 5 verse 8
[3]
Romans chapter 4 verse 25
[4]
Romans chapter 5 verse 10
[5]
Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6
