Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Tuesday, 20 December 2022 12:25

The gift that takes a lifetime to unwrap (Luke 2:1-20)
To millions of people this is one of the most wonderful times of the year, and many are waiting with anticipation to see what gifts we get. Many are wrapped in beautiful wrapping paper and then decorated with bows, tinsel, and pretty ribbons. The sad part is there almost seems to be a let-down after we have unwrapped all of our gifts – not because we didn’t get what we wanted, but there is something magical about unwrapping those gifts in anticipation and excitement as to what lies beneath the bow. Probably most of us can’t remember what they got for Christmas last year, what gifts they unwrapped.

I want all of us to know that there is a gift that we can unwrap everyday of our lives! It’s the gift that takes a lifetime to unwrap (Luke 2:1-20). First, I want us all to see that some 2000 years ago, when God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law (Gal. 4:4) He presented to man a gift He had planned for from the very beginning (Eph. 3:8-11). This gift came to us in the fullness of time, and because of the birth of this baby, because of the life that now existed in Him, we all have received the gift of opportunity – an opportunity to live, to never have to die again! It is a gift, given in a moment of time, that God promises to all who are willing to receive it, (John 1:12) “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

To use a phrase that has been coined to describe nearly every meaningful gift in advertising since the 1920’s, it was “the gift that keeps on giving.” When Jesus was born that day in Bethlehem, it was just the beginning of the gift unwrapping. Our text (Luke 2:7) tells us that when he was born, they wrapped him in swaddling clothes; and, friends, He brought a gift for us all to unwrap, not at all like the cloth strips (swaddling clothes) they wrapped him in. The unwrapping or unfolding of that gift began first by the proclamation of the angels, first to Mary (Luke 1:26- 33); then to Joseph (Matt 1:18-21); then to the shepherds in the field (Luke 2:9-11). So, throughout the New Testament we read of God’s gift to mankind appearing time and time again before a people who needed His light so very badly.

He died alone as God’s greatest gift to mankind (John 3:16) And He himself declared, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). Even though the gift of God appeared in an instant of time, it was not intended to be a present that you open and that’s the end. Not just once, but every day of our lives on this earth we experience the gift of God’s love all over again. Every day I wake up, I get to unwrap another part of the gift of eternal life that God has prepared for me. “But as it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Just when I think I have unwrapped all I can, like the last present we’ll be opening in the next few days with our family members, God overwhelms me and allows me to unwrap a little more of His wonderful gift of grace toward the salvation to be revealed in the last time. What gift can compare to our never having to fear death, never having to die the second death in the lake of fire and brimstone, never suffering, crying, feeling pain, but to live eternally in a place called Heaven? “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.” (1 Corinthians 9:15).

The author can be reached for comments at 256-574-2489.

-Terry Broome