Many of us associate Christmas with a time of giving and receiving gifts.  What is the greatest gift any of us can ever receive?  Certainly, there are many possible answers.  The gift of life itself.  The ability to be conscious and at least relatively alert for another day.  The blessings of family and friends.  The material blessings of food and clothing and a place to live.

But I would like to suggest the greatest gift we can ever experience is a conscious awareness of the goodness and grace of the sovereign God who has created us.  Centuries ago, Augustine recognized this reality when he said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” 

The tragedy is that left to ourselves we will never experience this reality of experiencing God’s presence in our lives.  Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, humanity has rejected God and been forced to leave the intimacy of God’s blessings symbolized in the Garden of Eden so long ago. 

The good news of the Christmas story is that this same God has taken the initiative in reaching out to human beings has also made it possible for men and women once again to enter into a restored relationship with Himself as the God and Creator of this universe.  In particular, we can know Him not only God and Creator but also as Savior and Giver of new life.  God has chosen to redeem and restore fallen men and women.  The Bible tells us that right now at this point in history God is choosing a people for Himself where He will become our God and we can become His people. 

And His has chosen to bring salvation and new life specifically through the coming to earth that first Christmas of His Son.  Jesus is thus both God Himself and Someone who took on human flesh and became a human being that first Christmas.  This is what it means for Him to be the perfect God-man.

May we all give God the place He deserves in our lives not only this Christmas season, but for every day for the rest of our lives.  May we experience more and more of God’s presence and grace in our lives today and every day.