By: Steve Wilmot
Edgerton, Ohio
Christmas is a time of gift-giving. The very first Christmas, God gave us Jesus, his Son, not only as the payment for our sins but also as the pattern for how to live our lives to the fullest.
Later, the wise men arrived and gave Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
You’ll do the same this Christmas. You’ll give gifts to your kids and your friends. And they’ll give gifts to you.
Some gifts are better than others. For the first or second Christmas as a married man, I asked Beck what she wanted for Christmas. She said she needed socks. So… I got her socks… and nothing else! Take it from me, socks are not a great gift for your wife at Christmas!
Jewelry is better than socks. Clothing is better than socks. Anything is better than socks! God won’t give you socks this Christmas. His gifts are far better. Let’s unwrap some of them.
Redemption. Redemption means to “buy back.” It shows how valuable you are in God’s eyes. It says he’s not disappointed with you. It means he won’t give up on you.
We belonged to God at birth, but bogus offers of happiness lured us away from him and led us into sin and slavery. But Jesus loves us so much he willingly bought us back at the ultimate price — his death.
“The Lord did not give you His love and choose you because you were more people than any of the nations. For the number of your people was less than all nations.
But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the promise He made to your fathers. So, the Lord brought you out with a strong hand. He set you free from the land where you were servants, and from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7.7-8).
God didn’t redeem you because you deserve it. Nothing you’ve done — or can do — could ever make you worthy of being forgiven, which is one of the benefits of redemption.
Redemption also frees you from spiritual slavery and the power of the enemy. You don’t have to be the man or woman you used to be. The gift of redemption frees you from the whole entangled nightmare of sin – repent – repeat.
Jesus set you free from Satan (you don’t have to obey him anymore), sin (you can break the habits that fill you with regret), guilt (you are forgiven), law (you don’t have to keep a list of rules to be accepted by God), and death (you will live forever). Adoption.
“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1.5).
Adoption is a choice; natural birth is not. God decided to adopt you into his family. He didn’t have to, but he wanted to. Paul wrote that it gave him great pleasure to do so.
The amazing thing about adoption is God knew everything you did in the past and everything you would do in the future — the rebellion, the ugliness, the heartache you would dump on him — and he adopted you anyway. Unconditional love.
“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5.8).
Even when we were still sinners — running from God, chasing other lovers, spitting in his face by our actions, rejecting his love — he loved us enough to give his best, Jesus.
We have been convinced by past experiences with other people that love is based on performance. If I do what you want, you will love me. If I don’t, you won’t. So, it’s hard to believe God’s love isn’t based on performance, too. But it isn’t.
God won’t stop loving you when you mess up after you’ve turned to him and are following him.
There is nothing bad you can do that will make God love you any less than he does right now. There is nothing good you can do that will make God love you more than he does right now.
What a generous God he is. James tells us that “His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1.3). There is nothing you need that God doesn’t provide as his gift to you. Nothing.
God loves you without conditions. He adopted you even though he knows all your flaws and imperfections. He readily paid the price to buy you back from Satan and redeem you.
Don’t leave these gifts wrapped under your Christmas tree this year. Call upon the name of the One who loves you, and you’ll experience the best Christmas you’ve ever had.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.