Better Than Socks & Underwear
Good Morning,
As we look into the question of “Why Christmas?”, one of the answers is that it is a better gift than socks and underwear…a whole lot better!
You can probably think back to a time when you received a well-intentioned, yet odd Christmas gift. I have a friend who once bought his wife three gifts and told her to pick one and he would take the other two back. Men, we should be thankful for guys like this because they lower the bar for the rest of us!
Here are just two aspects which make the gift of Christmas better than all other gifts (and we will look at the biggest aspect next week).
We are adopted into God’s family. Rom. 8: 14,15 - For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
God made a conscious decision to send us Jesus and thereby make possible our adoption into His family. Not an adoption out of guilt or obligation, but out of love. Your standing is elevated to a royal place in the family of God! Adoption is not a work of grace in us, but an act of grace without us, having its complete being in the mind of God.
God is with you and for you! Rom. 8:31 - What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
God is in your corner. Just like a boxer who’s trainer is in their corner assisting, doctoring, encouraging, and coaching so it is with God. There will never be a moment of your life when God is not advocating for you. There is no place you go, situation you face, decision you need to make, dark night of the soul you endure, where Jesus is not in the middle of it all WITH you.
What Christmas makes possible is a life better than you can imagine and more certain than any other thing in this life. And that is definitely something a pair of new socks can’t do!
Question to ponder this week:
1) How could the fact that you have been adopted into God’s family as a full heir give you confidence for the future?
2) What are you facing this week that in the light of God’s presence is less scary?
Live on purpose, Ron Klopfenstein, CPLC
