No Greater Gift

Christmas is just such an awesome time!  The whole world seems to transform into a more wonderful place when it’s infected by the Christmas spirit.  There’s all the beautiful lights, spending time with family, decorating the tree, Christmas music, yada yada yada.  People just seem so much happier and friendlier during this time of year.  (For the most part).

My memories of Christmas past are pretty special too.  I have received some amazing gifts and I have given a few really good ones too.  Probably the most favorite gift I received in my childhood was an upright stereo.  It had a radio, record player, and an 8-track player!  That’s right, I said an 8-track player.  But, the coolest thing of all was the top part where the record player was.  There was your very own disco ball, complete with a mirrored back and lights.  You could actually turn on the lights AND the disco ball!  There just wasn’t anything cooler in the whole wide world!  This is what it looked like:

Totally awesome!

When I was in the 8th grade, we got a new head football coach for our school district.  He taught 8th grade social studies.  Since the beginning of school, Coach had gone on and on about how he was the biggest OU Sooner fan of all time.  Growing up in a small town in Oklahoma pretty much necessitates the need to be a huge Sooner fan.  I was pretty sure that I was the biggest OU fan.  One of my first ambitions in life was to actually be the head coach at OU.  (Honestly, I just thought I could be like Barry Switzer…the John Wayne of football).  Nevertheless, I never argued with Coach over it.  I could tell he was confident in his claim.  Who was I to make him feel bad?  My father was an avid OU supporter.  He had purchased season tickets to their football games for some years.  This particular year, OU was having a great football season.  In those days, the big bowl games really were the Sugar, Rose, and the Orange Bowls.  The Orange Bowl was unique in many ways including this ridiculous half-time show they were known for at the time.  You just didn’t miss it.  The Sooners had been lucky enough to play in the Orange Bowl a lot.  Coach would talk about how he would give anything if the Sooners went to the Orange Bowl that year and he could somehow get tickets.  Well, guess what?  The Sooners played their way into an invitation to the Orange Bowl, and because my dad had season tickets he was able to get tickets to the Orange Bowl as well.  I didn’t tell anyone about it.  One evening at home, dad was lamenting over the fact that we weren’t going to be able to use the tickets that year.  He was talking about selling them.  I thought of Coach, and I asked my dad if we could give him the tickets.  He said yes.  The last day of school before Christmas break, I loaded up a couple of gifts I had to give to some friends at school and an oddly wrapped envelope for Coach.  I sat it on his desk alongside a few other gifts from various students.  After the bell rang, we all began to open gifts and celebrate with each other, and Coach started opening his gifts.  Finally, he came to my strange, underwhelming envelope.  I will never forget the look on his face when he sliced open the top of the envelope with his pocket knife.  He just peered in and was frozen.  It took a minute for the shock to wear off and he looked up at me and said, “Is this really what I think it is?”  It was amazing, and it felt so good to make someone else so happy.  It’s really hard to describe how much it meant to me to see him so happy.

It is better to give than receive, Acts 20:35.  I learned how true that really is.  I’ve continued to give in any way I can especially during the Christmas season.  The whole idea is multiplied by infinity for Jesus.  We are mere humans.  Jesus is a divine human…so he’s a Super Human.  What Jesus gave to us can never be equaled.  There is no greater gift.  He was mocked, tortured, and crucified for us.  He did this voluntarily.  Voluntarily.  To pay the price of our sins so we could receive the greatest gift of all…forgiveness.  You see, only His voluntary sacrifice was good enough to cleanse our sins, Hebrews 9:12.  We got two amazing gifts:  1.His sacrifice (Galatians 1:4)  2.God’s forgiveness and eternal life (Romans 6:23)  Through the very blood of Jesus, God forgives us and we receive eternal life, John 3:16.  All we have to do is receive the gift.  It is so easy!  Just accept the gift!  Open the envelope of the love of Jesus, Romans 10:9-10.  God’s forgiveness awaits you and the spirit will fill your soul with love.  What a glorious thing!  Praise God!

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