salvation

Christmas Eve – 12th Gift – Love

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12th Gift of Christmas – The Love of God

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

We often think of the baby in the manger as the giving of God’s ultimate gift. But looking more deeply into the story we see that yes it was at Bethlehem that God’s gift came, but it was not until the cross that His gift was given. God’s gift of love became ours as the blood poured from the wound in Jesus’ side. Why not make Christmas the start of a new life’s journey that will last forever? He has given you these twelve gifts and so much more. Christmas is the perfect time to give your life to Him!

Here is my poem for you as my gift and the Mullett girls singing on a fresh new video about the Glorious Night Jesus was born! Merry Christmas all!

 12 Gifts of Christmas

 The gift of being a neighbor
 Do I know my neighbor’s name?
 The gift of Kindness
 That puts prejudice to shame
 The gift of Prayer
 That calls help down from God
 The gift of Faith
 That believes when times are hard
 The gift of Hope
 That sees our Lord in all
 The gift of Joy
 That helps us when we fall
 The gift of Grace
 That washes away sin
 The gift of Rest
 That spends sweet time with Him
 The Living gift of Water
 That fills our thirty souls
 The gift of Mercy
 That answers law’s demands
 The gift of a Star
 That guides us through strange lands
 The gift of Love
 The greatest one of all
 And Jesus - gift of gifts In a manger low and small! 

12 Gifts of Christmas by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2017 All rights reserved

The Mystery of Christmas

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The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the only one of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NIV

When I stopped to put my dollar in the Salvation Army bucket outside of our local Walmart the bell ringer started to talk about Christmas. At first it was nice meeting someone who seemed to appreciate what Christmas is supposed to be about. But soon He was steering the conversation down the path of a somewhat bizarre interpretation of who and how the baby in the manger came to be. He kept pressing his point further and further with detail after detail that fit together until His conclusion somehow lost its way. Sadly I had to walk away, because what had begun as a celebration of God’s gift felt more like the dissection of a butterfly.

There is a beauty and a mystery in the incarnation that we can only see with eyes of faith. When each Christmas we pause and ponder on the astonishing reality of God coming as a baby we can only kneel in awe and worship. We ask again the question Mary asked, “How can these things be?” Again the answer comes. “The Spirit of God will overshadow you…”

If we try to get hold of every detail we end up like a drowning man grasping at straws. We can get our hands around straws, but only God’s Spirit and our faith that He has come can save us in the end. Then with John we can say, ” And we have seen His glory… Full of grace and truth!”

Photo by Frank Cone on Pexels.com

RSVP

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Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.”  John 1:38-39a

RSVP comes from the French phrase; “Répondez, S’il Vous Plaît” It is great a way of organizing an elaborate event so that the host knows how many people to prepare for. Now we have always loved parties but since we aren’t used to formalities we hadn’t considered using such a system for the special event we held for a few friends and family. We had reserved a room at a restaurant and invited a specific list of people. But the day of our event came and we were sad to see that some guests who we had counted on seeing had to work late and then embarrassingly some who we had forgotten to invite showed up! But when God plans a party He is way more organized than we were. His event in heaven is for everyone but when we receive our invitation we will find that inside the envelope Jesus has included a spiritual RSVP. Before showing up at Heaven’s door we will need to fill it out and send it in to be included on His list. (In the Bible called the book of life)

God’s invitation to come to Jesus is for you. The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son to pay for our invitation. Just like the disciples, we are welcome to come and see Jesus. God wants businessmen, nurses, teachers, ladies of the night and even politicians to be there! The blood of Jesus was shed to pay for us all to be there, but the question today is: What is your answer to Him?