NOVEMBER 13, 2014
Creeping
Christmas?
Read: Galatians
4:1-7
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! —2 Corinthians 9:15
I love Christmas. The
celebration of the birth of Christ and the beauty and wonder of the season make
it “the most wonderful time of the year” for me. In recent years, however, the
season has been accompanied by a growing irritation. Every year “Christmas
stuff” comes out earlier and earlier—creeping all the way back to early fall.
Christmas used to be
limited to December, but now we find radio stations playing Christmas music in
early November. Stores start advertising Christmas specials in October, and
Christmas candy appears in late September. If we’re not careful, this growing
deluge can numb us—even sour us to what should be a season of gratitude and
awe.
When that irritation
begins to rise in my spirit, I try to do one thing: Remember. I remind myself
what Christmas means, who Jesus is, and why He came. I remember the love and
grace of a forgiving God who sent us rescue in the Person of His Son. I
remember that, ultimately, only one gift really matters—God’s “indescribable
gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15). I remember that the salvation Christ came to provide is
both the gift and the Giver all wrapped up in one.
Jesus is our life all
year long, and He is the greatest wonder. “O come, let us adore Him!”
Living God, I thank You for the unspeakable
gift
of Your Son. Draw my heart to Your own, that
my
worship to and gratitude for Your Son will
never be
diminished by the distractions of the world
around me.
Jesus
is our life throughout the year.
Insight
In today’s passage,
Paul explains that our salvation is the work of our triune God. First, “God
sent forth His Son” (v.4). Second, Jesus came to accomplish our
redemption—setting us free from the bondage of the law—and to secure our
adoption, making us sons of God and enabling us to enjoy the full privileges as
God’s children (v.5). Third, God gave us the Holy Spirit—“the Spirit of His
Son,” who endears and enables us to cry out “Abba, Father!” (v.6). The work all
three persons of the Holy Trinity did to secure our salvation is also explained
by Paul in Ephesians 1:3-14 and by Peter in 1 Peter 1:2. Jesus spoke of this as
well (John 14:16-18,23-26; 15:26).
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
