James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Got Gifts? About 250 BILLION dollars is spent in the United States on advertising with 1.9 billion being exclusively for Christmas gifts. No wonder we feel the pressure to find the perfect gift to give to the people we love, those we appreciate in service industries, teachers, etc., and for people we just feel obligated to include. I’ve seen posts reminding us to live in the moment and the true gift is making memories and years later your kids won’t remember the gifts they receive. I don’t disagree, but at the risk of sending anyone into a panic, I do remember some of the gifts I received as a kid. When I was 11, my dad gave me a lady’s golf hat with a little puff ball on the top!
As if being 11 isn’t hard enough??
Another year, I remember getting scotch tape in my stocking. That felt almost like coal!
But the one that sticks with me the most is the Sunshine Family Doll set and house. Ohhhhh, how I wanted that. I knew it was way out of Mom’s price range, but I pleaded my case with Santa. It was the counterculture reaction to Barbie. The mom in her prairie dress, the dad in his corduroys and turtleneck sweater, and the cute little baby all living in their very modest four room house. Very unlike Barbie and her mansion. Racing out of my bedroom that Christmas morning, I stopped in my tracks not believing my eyes – there it was!!!! As an adult, I’m not sure who helped my mom (grandparents I’m guessing) to get me that remarkable gift that I loved to literal pieces.
I am not telling you these stories to glorify commercialism, but to show it isn’t the quantity of the gifts, but the quality. The actual quality isn’t tied to the monetary value, but in the love that backs up the gift. The Wise Men brought three gifts. Just three. There was no Christmas tree piled high with the latest and greatest things, but three items to worship a King. I’ve seen an internet meme that indicates if it had been wise women they would have brought diapers and formula and things that a new mom would really need. I can actually imagine the look on Joseph and Mary’s faces when the Wise Men showed up with their gifts. “Ohhh, how lovely….burial spices… what every two-year-old wishes for!”
Sometimes, we don’t get what we want, but what we need.
I didn’t like Dad’s hat, but in his mind, he was protecting me from sunburn. Matthew 2:13 tells us, “When they [the Wise Men] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’”
Suddenly, these impractical royal gifts were vital to protecting the young Jesus.
I may have felt disappointment in receiving scotch tape, it wasn’t what I was expecting. But in reality, I blasted through that stuff while making my kid projects. That gift provided me a means to create and give of myself far beyond my expectations. 1 Peter 4:10 states, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” At that time, the Hebrew people were expecting a Savior that would protect them from Roman rule, but what they got was a helpless baby. Their expectations did not match the gift given, but ultimately, Jesus was and is a Savior far beyond a political leader. His life was a living, breathing, walking example of faith and grace.
The Sunshine Family sticks with me not because it was the most amazing toy, but that it was such a sacrificial gift. A gift I knew my mom couldn’t afford, but she loved me so much she found a way to give it to me. Her income levels could ebb and flow, but her love never wavered. God does not suffer from a limited bank account and His gifts are endless.
James 1:17 confirms this by saying, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
But all He extravagantly gives to us pales next to His son Jesus, the ultimate gift. Is there any gift more sacrificial than His own perfect Son? John 3:16, reminds us, “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.” God didn’t give us a world full of His sons, just One.
Quality over quantity.
