With all the business I tend to get involved in each day, several weeks ago I stumbled on a gift card receipt from the previous year that was going to expire very soon. As it so happens, I needed something from that particular store to help with the church build we are currently involved in. It was a blessing to add that monetary plastic money to the payment for that piece of equipment that I now needed.
Now I had somewhat forgotten and misplaced that gift card with my some-timers memory, and it was for a store I didn’t frequent and actually had never visited at all. But now I had a need for something they sold and with this receipt, it would be an even greater value to me. I knew just about where I had stored that gift and it merely took a couple of minutes to find it. Glory to God the gift receipt was still valid!
This is after all the season of gifts. This is the time of the year when we take a break from all the hustle and bustle of life to spend time with our family and re-center our lives upon what really is important in this life. And yes we exchange a gift or two as well. As we age, we all agree that our time here on this Earth is very short. It is so hard to believe that I have been filling my lungs with this American air for nearly sixty years now and my time here is surely drawing nearer, but for all of us, we never know when that time is coming. My time here has been a gift. There have been some days and weeks I would have liked to exchange as they were too small or much too big or didn’t fit at all but I pray I have grown from those experiences and moved closer to God! But the season of gifts is a reminder of the greatest gift given to mankind, the birth of our Savior!
So why are we so distracted when we are amongst this miracle gift? When it comes down to it, what is it in your little personnel world that really matters? Let me tell you what is really going on behind the scenes; we have become enslaved to the one who lost his keys to the prison door. Little “he” entices us to stare at social media screens and slips pornography in when our guard is down, and we listen to noise to drown out our thoughts. Maybe we intended to look for fulfillment for just a glance or two, to relieve us of our wicked thoughts and selfish memories, as we slip ever so slowly away from this miracle, from this great Gift, into the distraction of hell one second at a time. And all around us, global chaos continually erupts from shore to shore reminding us of our uncertain grasp of life. And this meaning of life is being forced into a choice that is not and never has been ours. Life comes from God! Can He have yours?
We make excuses to not read our bibles and not come to church and much, much worse, we deny the greatest Gift known to mankind, For unto us a child is born (Isa 9:6). For unto you a child is born! Did you hear me? Quit trying to fit your belief into the church and instead, fit the church into your belief, it has not changed! Don’t base your belief of salvation on a distorted path, to a temple of destruction. The Christ-Child is here, are you? Did you come early? Did you come last night? Why not? Why are you so distracted?
Don’t you understand? This GIFT is for YOU! Time is short! You don’t need to look for it, and there is no expiration date, it simply waits for you too slow down and get yourselves right with God. Why are we keeping ourselves so busy with things that really don’t matter? He knows what you have been doing. He knows how you have been abused and neglected. He knows your deep sadness and loss. He knows each and every choice you have made, and know this; after all that mess, He is still yearning ever so deeply that you will choose Him. Please, won’t you come? Won’t you receive His precious Gift?
