There are three sorts of people who open their gifts. (At least, in my way of thinking). First, there are the people who do it fast and quick. They receive their gift and like a little child tear into it. They take the quickest path, the one of least resistance. If you’re not careful with your wrapping, they might even tear the card apart in the process.
Then, there are the slow and the deliberate. These folks are the ones who try not to tear the wrapping paper. They try to peal back the tape to keep the paper from tearing; who knows, someone may want to us it again. Then, they take the wrapping paper and carefully fold it and set it to the side.
Finally, there are the people who unwrap the gift twice. They first unwrap the gift to find out what is inside; they get into that gift in either the first or the second way. Then, once they know what the gift, they hold it in their hands and ponder the full meaning of the gift.
I hope you’re starting to catch what I’m throwing down.
I hope you come to Christmas with such a zeal and a desire to see Christ in the manger, that you can’t help but tear into the Scripture and the Songs and the Sermon. Get to the Christ as quickly as you can, in any way that you can. Maybe you’ve heard the story before. Maybe you never have. Either way, let’s tear into this story and unwrap the Christ there, like never before. You won’t be disappointed. You will always be surprised at the gifts he came to bring.
I hope you come to Christmas with the care and concern of the Wise men who studied the stars and looked into the Scriptures to determine who it was that was to be born and where it was that he would be born. I hope you get into that wrapping paper, carefully looking and studying and thinking about and pondering and applying the truth of this Christ in the Manger. This is no small thing that God has done. He has come to earth to be our Rescuer and our Redeemer.
And I hope you come to Christmas pondering what this gift is even beyond Christmas. Maybe this is not your first Christmas, not your first time hearing the Christmas story. There is a special danger that you face, that it becomes old hat and that your ears become dull to its message and your eyes don’t light up like they did in the past. It’s become too ordinary. But I hope as you hold Christ by faith again this Christmas that the you will ponder anew, dear Christian friend, what glory then, is here int he manger and what glory is yours by faith in this dear child. You will never plumb the depths of what our God has done for us.
No matter how you come to Christmas this year, I am praying this with Paul: That God would open up the eyes of your heart to see how long and wide and deep and high is God’s deep love for you, that you would know more and more the power of his resurrection for us who believe, and that you begin to know and appreciate the inheritance that is yours among all of God’s holy people.
Merry Christmas! Christ is yours and you are his! Pastor Nate