The Real Gift

I love Christmas movies! Especially the ones that feature bright decorations, lots of snow, and of course, Santa Claus. However, I must admit that there is one that bothers me a lot. There is a particular scene in the 1985 blockbuster, “One Magic Christmas,” where a Dad, down on his luck, shows up at a gas station to try to sell his old car, or even his camp stove, anything, in order to get some money so he can buy Christmas presents for his son. After being unsuccessful and seeing his son’s despondency, the dad decides to rob the local bank to get the funds needed and ends up killing a key character in the process. Of course, after Ginny (who was woefully lacking in Christmas spirit) has a supernatural conversion experience, time is turned back so she can give the poor man the money needed to buy gifts for his son and, as a result, not rob the bank and kill Ginny’s husband. As I watch this I inevitably say, “Wait a minute. Isn’t the original problem the fact that this poor man and his son place such a high value on Christmas gifts that he is willing to rob and kill to get it?” I mean, come on! What’s wrong with this picture?

This month we’ve been reexamining the meaning of Christmas – of the “Advent”/Coming of the Christ – and that meaning does not include giving nice presents to every boy and girl in the world, no matter what the cost to the family budget. Christmas does, in fact, involve the giving of gifts, and in particular, one gift. You and I are recipients of this, the “real gift.”

Jesus revealed the Father as a Giver. The heart of God is governed by generosity. Even the most generous person gives superficially and with some level of self-centered motivation when compared to God. When teaching about the generosity of God Jesus stated, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11). God knows how to give “good gifts,” gifts that will have the best benefits for the ones receiving his gifts. It’s interesting how the Gospel of Luke records this saying of Jesus: “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13). Ultimately, the very best gift God can give anyone is the gift of the inner presence and working of God’s Spirit. That was probably what Jesus was referring to when he told the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). While everyone occasionally thirsts for water, all people have a deep, fundamental thirst for the living water only God can give, for the deep, inner moving of the Spirit of the Living God. While we may have a certain temporary item in mind to give (or receive) as a gift this Christmas, God alone can give us what we really need.

Christmas clearly reveals God’s real gift: “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). GOD GAVE HIS SON!! What else is there? What else could we ever really need or want? During his life and ministry Jesus was very aware that he was God’s gift to humanity. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus came to give his life, to pay the price needed to restore humankind back to the Father. One time Jesus was teaching the crowd about himself, showing that he was God’s Living Bread sent to satisfy the deepest needs of the human heart. Jesus told them, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:27). Every gift but one is temporary, and will eventually wear out and “spoil.” Only the gift of eternal life given by God when he gave his Son will endure. Nothing else can really satisfy for very long. “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32-33).

I love what Jesus told the Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Do we really understand the gift God has given us? Are we asking for, are we receiving that gift? Do we really know that there is only one source of living water?

And are we offering that gift to others this Christmas? No matter what has happened in our lives this year we are truly blessed. God has given us his Son. God has given us eternal life. Jesus is with us. God’s Spirit is in us. God has provided us with living water. Now, “Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8). May we rejoice in the real gift this Christmas, and may we freely offer it to those who are in need. Nothing else will satisfy.