As Christmas approaches, we all will scurry about buying and wrapping presents. Gift-giving is a major part of Christmas in our culture, perhaps to excess. Most children get more than their little minds can take in.
One child asked his mom, “If it is Jesus’ birthday, why do we get presents instead of giving them to HIM?”
When I posed that question to a group recently, one mom replied, “We give presents as a remembrance of the present God gave us – the greatest gift of all – His son.”
One dad answered it this way: “He gets our main presents … Our lives in dedication on Christmas and every day!”
My great niece told her mom they needed to bake a cake for Jesus’s birthday. They did, with candles and a big Happy Birthday, Jesus written on it. At her request, the family sang “Happy Birthday, Jesus.”
My son Scott and his wife Tracy are some of the best Christian parents I know. They took their children to church for every service, they had family devotions daily, and best of all, they were certain their children knew the true meaning of Christmas. Nonetheless, they saw that their children’s wish lists were fulfilled within reason.
When Dane was about six and was reading well, among his presents that year was his very on big boy bible which was met with less than the expected results. Dane tore the paper off his other gifts with gusto. He would try out the toys, one by one. He really got excited when he opened the package containing new cowboy boots. After he put them on and stomped all over the house, he sat back down to finish off his pile of gifts. The next was his new bible. He looked at it for a minute, threw it aside and grabbed for another package. “Don’t you like your bible,” Tracy asked.
“Nah, I’m just not too much into that religious stuff,” he answered, to his parents’ dismay. At that moment he was being nothing but truthful. Of course, he really loved his church and learning bible verses, and was very much into that “religious stuff.”
If adults were completely honest, how many of them would choose worldly gifts over Heavenly ones. May this be the Christmas where families concentrate more on giving more of themselves to the Lord instead of getting lesser things.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
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