Christmas shopping

Most everyone by now has already bought their Christmas gifts or is in the last minute frenzy finishing up. I always begin my shopping exercise by making a list. I was looking at my list and discovered I had inadvertently left an important name off. It was not just any name; it was the most important Person in my life. It was Jesus Christ. How could I have missed His name, He is the reason for the season? We are celebrating His birthday, not our kids, or our family, not Santa, nor one of our friends birthdays. His name should have been first on my list. Christmas should be about the birth of Jesus Christ, (please join me in teaching your kids and grandkids that this year).



When deciding what to obtain for each person on my Christmas list, I try to put some serious thought into what they might like or need. Well what should one get for our Creator? We talk about difficulty in buying for someone who has everything; Jesus owns it all! Well there is one thing He wants. My Sunday school teacher made the point that God does not need our money or material possessions as the entire universe is at His disposal, but Jesus does want us to love Him as He loves us. He wants us from head to toe. Even those of us who profess to love Jesus, do not give Him 100% of what we have to offer, nor are we 100% obedient to His commands.



Please join me this year in rededicating your life to Jesus Christ. What better gift for the most special Person in all of our lives. He paid a heavy price for us and bought our freedom with His blood. Resolve to read the Bible through this coming year. If you have already done so, then read it with commentary this year, or try a different version. Faith comes through hearing the Word of God. Join a Sunday school class and become active in it this year. If you already belong to one, then consider teaching a class. Work with young people; if you do not like young people, work with old people. Sign up for the prison ministry, or various feeding programs for the needy. If the church that you attend now is not right for you, find another one this year. Vow to remove those troublesome sins from your life this year, be it gossip, covetous behavior, racism, failure to tithe, lying, drinking to excess, lust, profane speech, mean-spirited behavior, etc…Find ways to help people. Not just your friends and acquaintances, but people who are down and out and desperately need help and have nowhere to turn. There is something for everyone who truly wants to give Jesus the gift that He really desires from you and me this year. Most of all He just wants you and me. Perhaps there lies the answer for the perfect gift. Perhaps we can be instrumental in leading others to Him that are lost! Witness to others. Im sure he would like that one…



Oh yeah, He will give us a gift in return, He will be with us always even to the end of the age. As the saying goes, one cannot out-give God.





Matt. 28:18

….I have been given complete authority in

heaven and on earth. Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Sprit. Teach

these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

How well do you know the Bible?

Jesus mothers lineage includes a king and a patriarch, this fulfilled an important prophecy; who are they?

Matt.1:1



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