God Is Still In The Gift Giving Business

This is the season for gifts and giving! It is one of the reasons Christmas is so fun and exciting. Speaking of gifts and giving, there is a story my wife loves to tell about her favorite Christmas gift.

It was the year of the Cabbage Patch Doll, one of the greatest phenomena of my generation. Television and radio stations held contests and auctions so parents could get their hands on the commodities. Want-adds displayed the lengths desperate parents would go to commandeer one of these toys. And of course, there were those fortunate enough to buy up several at once to sell them at unbelievable prices to moms and dads who would stop at nothing to see the looks on their precious one’s face on Christmas morning.

My wife was once one of those dreamy-eyed children with her heart set on a brand new Cabbage Patch Doll. To hear her tell the story today you can see her light up as she recalls that special morning. As many children do when they have their eyes set on a particular item, she bargained with her parents as she declared she didn’t need a single other present as long as there was a Cabbage Patch Doll under the tree.

Christmas morning rolled around and the gift-giving extravaganza commenced. As she would tear into each package, she did so with baited breath for the hope of finding her new doll. Package after package was opened but it yielded no doll. As her hopes began to fade, she tried to focus on the gifts she did get and not on the one she did not receive. But as luck would have it, after she thought all hope was lost, her father told her to go to the closet. It was there, hidden in a place she would never expect, she found her Christmas dream come true.

She got her brand new doll, but to hear her tell the story today, the toy was not what was most important. In hindsight, that year brought her the greatest gift to memory because her dad picked it out and gave it to her out of complete and total love. It did not necessarily come at a time or in the manner she expected, but it came nonetheless, and to this day remains the greatest gift she ever received. Sure, there have been fancier and much more expensive gifts through the years (I should know!) but it was that doll that has meant the most.

Friends, I hope you find that your heart’s greatest desire is fulfilled this Christmas. But in the midst of our worldly dreams we can ill afford to overlook the gift that was given long before any of us were ever born. For in a time when it was least expected, in a place where no one even dared to look, God with us, Emmanuel, was born to set us free. A tiny baby born of a virgin and laid in a feeding trough is still the best gift we could hope for. After all, “Jesus is the reason for the season!”

The same God who gave us the gift of Jesus that special night is still in the gift-giving business. Sometimes God’s gifts are difficult to see and even understand, but God is still in the gift-giving business. As we come around to this Christmas season each and every year, we are reminded that the One who gave His Son to be our Savior, the Prince of Peace in a world full of peace-less-ness, still gives us gifts of hope, joy, and love.

So as we have a great time exchanging gifts with those we love, in the midst of the dolls, action figures, clothes, jewelry, and video games, may we also remember that every dream we could ever have has been given in the form of the baby Jesus. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and after all the paper has been torn away and before the thank you notes are written, may we each and every one pause to remember that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17)