Preparing My Gift for Christ
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This is the season of gifts and giving. We stack boxes of goodies under Christmas trees and enjoy the company of family, friends and relatives. And then, in all excited movement, preparation and lining up to the stores, a faint voice reminds us the true meaning of Christmas. This voice does not compete with all the loudness and madness out there. It waits for the listener to shut them all out, and decisively choose to listen to this still small voice that emphatically repeats that sounding joy, that lingering echo pointing to the Reason for all season, most especially this holiday.
But there is a hum with this voice that is fainter, still. That ahem with a little raised eyebrow is this:
Whose occasion is this? With all the gifts that you get and give, where are his?
There is a worldwide consensus that we celebrate the virgin birth of the King in the month of December. Since this is His birthday celebration, then we, His loyal subjects, should be offering Him gifts.
What kind of gifts befits a King?
The Magi showed us how: They opened their treasures.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. (Matthew 2:11 NIV)
These Magi were truly wise. They inconvenienced themselves and traveled long distances to honor the birth of the Promised King.
What they did is worth emulating. We don’t just open our wallets; we open our bank accounts. And it’s not even in the measure of amounts, but the measure of our hearts.
In this season of blissful giving when it’s so easy to share, and surprises abound for both giver and receiver, let us not forget our gifts to the King. And may this gift top any single gift to any individual; truly, a gift that befits the King of kings.
I choose to clothe myself with this repeated sounding joy, an eternal bliss coming from a heart of gratitude. In all the things that God has done, is doing, and will do for me, my most outstanding gift is nothing in comparison. But it’s the least that I can do.
One day, this faint hum will be the loudest music of all, as we stand before the King face to face, giving the gift of ourselves before Him who gave Himself first for us. What a day that will be!