Christmas is about giving.

• A gift is received… not earned. That’s a paycheck.
• A gift is accepted… not ordered. That’s shopping.
• A gift is given… not demanded. That’s robbery.

Quid Pro Quo or this for that has no place in giving. That’s trading. That’s business.

No. The only thing you must do for a gift is to accept it with grace and use it with thanks.

A gift that sits on the shelf is no better than no gift at all. It may even be worse.

• Have you ever given a gift that was ignored or rejected?
• How did you feel as the giver?
• What did it do to your relationship? 

God gave us a gift. His name is Jesus. Not just the baby we celebrate today, but the man he grew into, and the events we’ll celebrate in about 4 months: Crucifixion. Resurrection. Pentecost.

The truest and best gift in all of history is the offer of friendship with God through Jesus.

• The gift is the promise that He will never leave us or abandon us in our pain and trouble. He may not take us out of it, but He’ll take us through it. 
• The gift is the promise that He will make us into new creatures, actually able to live the way He wants us to. He’ll transform us bit by bit into the people He created us to be. 
• The gift is the promise that  He will live in us and we will be in His Presence now… and forever.

But the gift is only good if we choose to live as though it’s true.

The gift only works when we take it and use it.