The greatest gift

There is a God and his name is Yahweh. He is I Am. He is Creator. He is Most High. He is All-Sufficient. He is Lord. He is Holy and Righteous, Just and Love. He created the world and all that is in it. And it was good. It was good until the first two people he created turned from him to themselves. They chose to disobey God and instead follow their own desires, and sin entered the world. So a curse was put over man, and they were separated from God. And that curse and that separation have fallen over every man since.

Every person sins. Every person ever created turns from God to themselves. And God’s punishment for sin is death, separation from his own pure holiness. Since God is Just, sin has to be punished. But by his abounding grace, God offers the guilty a gift. Instead of leaving us to our own deserved damnation, the Judge sent an appointed one to be judged.

Jesus. God in flesh. Fully man, fully God. He came down from Heaven to live the perfect life that no man could. And he died the death that every man deserves. He became sin so we could be right with God. He completed the good works, and he satisfied the conditions of the punishment. And anyone who would believe in this man Jesus, who would confess his name and trust his Lordship, can be saved. He can be made right with God. He can trade the sin and the shame for righteousness and holiness. He can be spared the punishment and can be adopted into the family of God. Forever. For as a member of God’s family, we are promised an inheritance and a kingdom that will never perish, spoil or fade.

God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I Am has sent me to you.” – Exodus 3:14

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. – Genesis 1:1

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. – Genesis 1:31

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” – Genesis 2:16-17

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. – Genesis 3:6

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23

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. – John 3:16

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. – Ephesians 1:4-5

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. – 1 Peter 1:3-5

Spend some time in prayer and reflect on these verses or any others that point to the greatness of God and the mercy and compassion he chose to pour out over his people who would believe and confess his name. Praise and thank him for the greatest gift ever given – Jesus.

If you haven’t made a decision to follow Christ and want to do so – you can pray something like this:

Lord, I want in. I want you to be my Father. I want to be welcomed into your family. I want to be in Christ. I’m sorry for my sins, sorry for the times I’ve done life my own way. I want that to change – I want to follow you. I trust you, Jesus, to cover my sins and to take over my life. Please lead me and guide me. Amen

There is nothing magic in the words, but there is absolutely something supernatural in the repentance of heart and surrender to the Savior, the lover of our souls.

Sing: He Has Come For Us
Born in Bethlehem
Behold the Savior
O Come O Come Emmanuel