God’s Christmas Gifts to us
“When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared.” (Titus 3:4)
During a typical present opening session, a little boy eagerly grabbed a present. He quickly tore off the paper, opening the gift and dumping its contents on the floor. “What a beautiful sweater,” his mother exclaimed. “That looks great,” said his father. But the little boy moaned, “Oh, yuck, clothes” and began to cry.
Very often what we expect and what we receive has a lot to do with how we respond, not only at Christmas, but also in life. We can probably say that this Christmas, there might be not only disappointed children including that little boy, but disappointed teenagers and adults.
People hope for that perfect gift to bring them happiness or make them look like a million dollars. Again what we expect and what we receive has a lot to do with how we respond.
Certainly, there will be a lot of “oohs and aahs” as Christmas gifts are opened. But come Wednesday or Thursday, how many of those same people will be returning gifts for something that will more suit their fancy.
Why is it that no matter the gift or who gave it or how much it cost, nothing seems to fully meet our expectations? The reason is that we live in a world influenced by and filled with sin. We will never be completely happy.
In our verse today, the Apostle Paul looks back to reflect on the first Christmas. He reminds us of the two gifts which God gives us in the gift of his Son, Jesus, our Savior. The gifts, which Paul speaks of, are gifts that each of us and the whole world needs, kindness and love.
At this time of the year, there are many heartfelt stories in attempts to highlight kindness and love. If you look closely, you will find an absence of kindness and love. We realize that we are surrounded by hatred, anger, division, discontent, violence and tragedy. The list goes on and on.
God’s gift of love is centered in the forgiveness of our sins of anger, hatred and discontent and all the sins.
God’s love is an undeserved, but He has freely given us and forgiven our sins even though we offend him and each other time and time again.
As we receive God’s love, how can we share it and show that love to others around us? We could show love to our neighbors or family members, who continue to put us down. Biting our tongue when we’d like to lash out and settle a score? Think of how often our God has shown his love when our thoughts, words and actions were far from loving. May God’s gift of love motivate and equip us to give the gift of love to many others whether they ask for it or not.
God’s gift of kindness flows from his gift of love. His kindness is vividly evident in our lives with his rich and varied blessings. Look at the gifts piling up under your tree or stashed away in your closet or basement. The full degree of God’s overwhelming kindness is seen when we consider how richly he has blessed us and how readily we take that kindness for granted.
May you find peace, joy, comfort and hope as we kneel at the manger and receive God’s Christmas gifts and realize all that they means for us – not just at Christmas time, but all through the whole year and through our lives.