What do you like about Christmas?

1) Is it the decorations. the bright lights, the films, the music, the food, the parties and the presents that make this time of year so special for you?
2) Or is Christmas for you a time to think about others? Maybe you love having the family round, or volunteering on Christmas Day to give the lonely or the homeless some warmth and company?

Have you ever seen children opening a really big present? Once it’s out of the box, they will often forget the present, climb into the box, and have hours of fun pretending it’s a car, a boat, a castle or a spaceship! We adults are no different. We enjoy seeing friends and watching Christmas TV – and there’s nothing wrong with that – but we forget about the best gift we could ever have. I was talking to someone from Eastern Europe recently, who was surprised to find that “Christmas in the UK is all about receiving presents!” In their country, they said, Christmas is all about celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Yes, I know that sounds strange to us who live in a consumer society, but Jesus came to bring hope to the hopeless, acceptance to the rejected, love to the hurting and peace to the troubled. Most of all He came to offer each one of us the gift of eternal life. Not just the same old life going on forever – who would want that? But a new quality of life, a new power for living, a relationship of love between us and our Creator.

At Christmas we are offered a gift of eternal significance. I don’t know about you, but if I had to choose a present, I’d go for love and forgiveness every time over a new Xbox, after shave or bottle of wine. May you have a wonderful Christmas, and may you too discover that He is the Gift!