Christmas Eve has come at last. Children everywhere hold their breath, their hearts pumping and their eyes shining as they wait for all the glory of Christmas morning to be unveiled!
In an instant, presents under the tree will be seized and their wrappings and trappings shredded. In an instant, all those things hidden beneath will be revealed for what they are, received and enjoyed inasmuch as they are desirable to their recipients.
Childhood is the learning-lab for most of what we come to expect in our spiritual lives. Oh, that we would wait as eagerly for the unwrapping of all the gifts of God’s love in our everyday living! The work of Jesus on the Cross opened up to us all the riches of heaven, clearing the way for an overabundance of God’s blessings in everyday life!
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1a).
Be ready then to receive the good things of God… namely, forgiveness of sin as we repent and turn in faith to Christ Jesus; peace as we cease to fret and fume over our troubles and circumstances; joy as we celebrate new life and open access to the Father through Jesus Christ; and hope as we believe that our God, Who is forever faithful and true, is ruling all things in Creation to their appointed end according to His ultimate will.
“…Be encouraged in heart and united in love so that you may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that you may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (from Colossians 2:2-3).
Are you rich? Indeed you are if you have placed your faith for salvation in Christ. It may seem that so many of the gifts of God in your life are still wrapped and under the tree (so to speak) but in His time He’ll have you unwrap them as He reveals in new ways His love, protection and providence for your life.
Ultimately, when He calls His children home, those who’ve placed their faith in Christ will have a great "unwrapping”… “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).
This Christmas season, as you busily unwrap or watch others unwrap their Christmas gifts, carefully and with wonder “unwrap” the gift of each new day by trusting that there is a gift of great value within it for you from God.
