Someone has well said, “You are never more like Jesus than when you give.” Yet the question most often asked the day after Christmas is, “What did you get?” It is human nature that focuses on what we get instead of what we give. But the nature that is brought under the Lordship of Christ and filled with His Holy Spirit takes on the heart of the Heavenly Father. Paul described His heart this way: “But God proves his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Renowned physician Dr. Ben Carson once said, “Happiness doesn’t result from what we get but from what we give.”
The clearest verse describing the reason for the Christmas season is found in Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given”—a thought so beyond our comprehension and yet that is exactly what God did on the first Christmas. He knew that the beautiful baby in the cradle would become sin’s sacrifice on the cross. God has set the example. It was He who gave the first Christmas gift.
The manner in which we demonstrate His Lordship over our lives is by becoming sacrificial givers. The great A.W. Tozer said it this way, “As base a thing as money often is, it can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor. It can keep a missionary actively winning lost men to the light of the gospel and thus translate itself into heavenly values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.” We must give ourselves first to Him and then to others. This Christmas you can touch other lives with a cheerful, joyful act of giving. It may just be a cup of cold water to a thirsty man, or it may be the gospel in your own testimony to a lost man. It may be your gifts to a local church to carry out the Great Commission in our neighborhoods as well as the nations. This Christmas be just like your Father, and give.
On behalf of Jeanne, the Davis family, and the entire TBC Missions and Ministry team, I want to wish you and yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS.
It is a joy to be with you on this journey.
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