So here it is...

Gifts!

What do we do with them? Love them, loathe them, exchange them, treasure them... give them away again as a gift to someone else?

What makes for a perfect gift?

The quality of a gift depends upon three key factors:

How well does the giver know us?

How much does the giver love us?

What resources does the giver have at their disposal?

A combination of perfect knowledge, absolute love and unlimited resources results in the gift of all gifts!

Psalm 139

¹ O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

Romans 5

⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Ephesians 3

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Infinite knowledge, infinite love and infinite resources – the incarnation – the gift of all gifts!

Have an excessively happy Christmas and a peaceful and successful New Year.

Grace and peace, A,