The Giving Season

It’s that time of the year again. Stores and homes are filled with Christmas decorations, shoppers are buying things they can’t afford, and store owners are looking forward to the most profitable shopping days of the year. The giving season is here.

Some folks shop until they drop, then they spend the next six months trying to pay it all off. Others adopt the “Ebeneezer Scrooge” mentality, and they hide their money where even they can’t find it. Many give precious gifts to those they love, while remembering their reasons for giving.

Why do we give gifts every Christmas? How did we get caught up in shopping, wrapping presents, and giving, until we’re too tired to remember where it all began?

For hundreds of years people have given gifts during this season. Some say it was a Roman custom. Others remind us of the English tradition of giving gifts to servants on Boxing Day, December 26th. People often identify Christmas giving with Santa Claus. They trace his roots to Saint Nicholas, a bishop who gave gifts to good children and birch rods to naughty ones. Later on, in 1822, Dr. Clement C. Moore wrote his poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.” Today, the mythical Santa is a modern tradition.

Many people associate gift giving with the wise men who followed a special star and traveled a long distance to find the newborn King of the Jews. When they finally found him in Bethlehem, he was a young child living in a house. Most Bible scholars believe he was probably under two years old.

Matthew 2:11 says, “And when they were come into the house they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”

The early church celebrated Christ’s Mass or festival in memory of his birth. Ancient authorities disagreed on the exact date he was born, but in A.D. 386 the church accepted December 25^th as the day to remember. Today, some Bible scholars believe his birth was in a different season. The date isn’t important, but the reason the Son of God willingly became a man is crucial to our understanding of this miraculous event we call the incarnation.

Why did God the Father give His only begotten Son, and why did God the Son willingly leave his home in heaven to be born as a human from the womb of a virgin? The Son of God had to become the Son of Man so He could be both wholly God and wholly man.

Galatians 4:4–5 says, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

Only humans are born under the law, and only a human could redeem other humans born under the law. Born under the law of God, all humans are guilty of transgressing that law. Only a perfect human could perfectly keep and fulfill the law. Jesus accomplished our redemption on the cross by exchanging our sin for His perfect righteousness. It was crucial for the Son of God to become the Son of Man so he could pay for our sins by shedding his blood as he suffered and died on the cross.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

The perfect Lamb of God sacrificed His human life and shed His blood to cover the sins of all who would believe in Him. If He were not human, this would have been impossible. He is truly the Son of God, and God could not die. Jesus became the Son of Man so he could die for our sins.

As we celebrate this giving season, let’s remember the wise men who gave gifts to the new king. They gave him gold, a fitting gift for royalty. They gave frankincense, the resin from a tree. It would be burned to produce a sweet incense offering to God the Son. The third gift, myrrh, is a shrub used for embalming. This child was born to die. When the wise men found the King of the Jews, they gave him their best.

Their gifts can’t compare with the gift that God offers us. God’s gift wasn’t wrapped in holiday paper or tied with a bow. God’s gift was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

In Isaiah 9:6 we read, “For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given.” The child was born to Mary and her husband Joseph. The son was given by God the Father to be the Savior of the world.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Have you received God’s precious gift?

If you’ve received Christ as your Savior, your sins are forgiven, and you have the promise of eternal life. Will you thank God for saving you and tell others about him? If you haven’t received him, you can do it today.

John 1:12 says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

Do you believe Jesus died for your sin? Are you willing to confess your sin to God and pray to receive Christ as your Savior?

Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”