Harvest: Greg Laurie

Who do you give gifts to at Christmas? Usually family and friends. We will buy gifts for people we love. People that we care about. We give gifts to people who treat us well, people who are kind and considerate to us. And we often give gifts in return for gifts that are given to us. Some of us even buy gifts for our pets.

But we don't generally buy gifts for our enemies, do we? We don't give a gift to a person who slandered us in the past year or told lies about us. We don't give a gift to that irate neighbor who never has a kind word to say. We don't give a gift to someone who tried to run us out of business. Nor do we send a gift to the thief who stole the car stereo a month ago.

But think about this. When God sent Jesus Christ His Son and gave us this ultimate gift, He gave it to us while we were still His enemies. The Bible tells us, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). We did nothing whatsoever to merit or deserve this gift. In fact, what we really deserve is judgment, because we have all sinned against God. We have all deliberately crossed that line. But the amazing truth of Christmas is that in spite of our sins, God sent His Son to save us. In that tiny manger in Bethlehem, He gave us an undeserved gift.

TODAY'S RADIO PROGRAM: "How to Have a Joyful Christmas — I"

Copyright © 2006 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000

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