John 3:16\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0For 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.<\/i><\/p>\n
How many times have you heard a saying that Christmas isn\u2019t about what you get, it\u2019s about what you give.\u00a0\u00a0Well, I say balderdash\u2026kinda. I understand that the Word says that it is more blessed to give than receive but like everything about scripture \u201ccontext, context, context.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Acts 2:35<\/b>\u00a0states \u201cIn everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said:\u00a0\u2018It is more blessed to give than to receive.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0And since it is scripture it will certainly remain unchallenged truth.\u00a0\u00a0Yet, the verse is not talking about the day that so many choose to celebrate the birth of Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Most important about that day is not what we do but what we have received.\u00a0\u00a0The most important fact about that day is that we are remembering the day that God gave us His greatest gift of love, the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
On that specific day, at just the right time, Jesus was given as a gift to be the Savior to the world. (Romans 5:6<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0About seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus the prophet Isaiah prophesied about the birth of Messiah \u201c\u201cFor unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0(Isaiah 9:6<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0On the day that Jesus was born mankind did not give, it was God Himself who gave to mankind \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0(John 3:16<\/b>) We celebrate the birth of Jesus as the day that God gave Jesus to be the way back to peace with God.\u00a0\u00a0So when we celebrate the birth of Jesus we celebrate the momentous day that God gave to us what no person can give except God.\u00a0\u00a0We received, we did not give.<\/p>\n
It was not until the work of Christ was completed at His resurrection did anyone have their spirit resurrected into peace with God.\u00a0\u00a0So the greatest part of that day of remembrance of the birth of Jesus is what was given by the Father to all mankind through Jesus our Savior and that is peace with God.\u00a0\u00a0And what absolutely must be remembered is that unless one receives Jesus as their Savior and Lord than the meaning of the day of His birth, and the power of it, is lost.\u00a0\u00a0(John 3:18<\/b>)<\/p>\n
So the day of remembrance is wonderful, the giving of gifts is nice, but gift giving is not the purpose of Christmas no matter how sincere the motivation.\u00a0\u00a0As\u00a0John 3:18<\/b>\u00a0states, unless a person loves and serves Jesus, than that person does not have the benefit of the birth of the Christ.\u00a0\u00a0All gift giving, celebrating and song singing then is only useless exercise and singing.\u00a0\u00a0Only those who bow to the Lord receive the purpose of the day.\u00a0\u00a0And without having the purpose of the day, well, I guess, enjoy the gifts because what\u2019s ahead is not cheerful and full of gifts.\u00a0\u00a0Only through Jesus is salvation received.<\/p>\n
Now those who truly love the Lord truly love His children and all persons on earth, just as He does.\u00a0\u00a0Then it is a good thing to celebrate, dine and give gifts in remembrance and in celebration of the birth of Christ. Just remember giving gifts on that day means nothing if one has not first humbly, and joyfully, received the Father\u2019s gift to us.\u00a0\u00a0So first receive from the Father and then from the love and joy God has given us through Jesus, celebrate.\u00a0\u00a0Yes, praise God and give.\u00a0\u00a0Always praise God!\u00a0\u00a0Amen!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has\u00a0shown you, Oh man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you, but\u00a0to do justly, to love\u00a0mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John 3:16\u00a0\u2013\u00a0For 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. How many times have you heard a saying that Christmas isn\u2019t about what you get, it\u2019s about what you give.\u00a0\u00a0Well, I say balderdash\u2026kinda. I understand that the Word…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,103,100,94,1874,17,10],"class_list":["post-2574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-isaiah","tag-john","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2575,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574\/revisions\/2575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}