Have you gone out today, Christmas Eve, stilling looking for the perfect gift. You probably want to buy something that displays your love for your friend or spouse or family member. You will probably spend more that you can afford to get this gift so that the giftee will be happy. The sad thing is that the giftee may not react the way you wanted or expected. This may leave you with a sad feeling.
God gave us many gifts, but the most important gift we have received from God is the gift of his son, a part of himself. Do we recognize the gift? Do we appreciate the gift? God's gift of himself and of love are always there. His gift of unconditional love is always with us. This gift will never go out of style, never wear out, never break. We may loose it occassionally, but we can always count on the fact that it is never far from us and never gone completely. I thank God today for his gift to me. It is the only gift that I take with me everywhere and no matter how much I share the gift with others, my share of it is never diminished.
Merry Christmas to all
Enjoy the following tribute to God's gift.
One Solitary Life
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Over nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.
This essay was adapted from a sermon by Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” © 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!”).
"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)
No comments:
Post a Comment