The Unopened Christmas Gift
Every
year, hundreds of millions of us go through the ritual of decorating our home,
buying presents, throwing parties for a holiday we celebrate as Christmas. We wait
in long lines on Black Friday or spend countless hours online researching the
right gift for our loved ones. We wrap up gifts and anxiously wait for them to be opened. As we grow older and wiser, we realize that giving is a much
greater reward than receiving. But what if you gave someone you loved that
perfect gift only to watch them set it aside and never open it - it would probably
break your heart right? But that is what most of us do year after year,
Christmas after Christmas. We celebrate the holiday but we leave the true gift
unopened. Let me explain...
2000 years ago, God the Father gave us the gift of eternal
life through His Son Jesus Christ. The bible tells us in John 3:16 that “For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. So let’s focus on two things here, first off
is the love of God the Father for us. This verse tells us that He “loved” us so
much that He gave us His only begotten Son. This is in direct contrast to what many think that God is, a stern selfish tyrant only waiting for us to mess up. The reality is that God is love and He would rather be sacrificed on the cross and endure the pain, guilt, shame and sorrow that we deserve as sinners than to be separated from us eternally. Secondly, this verse tells us that
He “gave” us His only begotten Son. Think with me for a moment - if someone you
know gives you a gift, what must you do? The answer is simple, you must receive it.
And that is where The Unopened Christmas Gift comes into focus. Most of us have
never taken the time to receive this Christmas gift from God the Father. We set
this gift aside year after year and rather choose to celebrate a meaningless Holiday. So the
next question is this; “how do I open this Christmas gift?” Glad you asked.
The Bad News
Before
we can realize the great gift the Father has given us, we must first realize
what it would mean to us to leave this precious gift unopened. What I’m about
to share with you is what has been left out of the pulpits in most of the “Mega
Churches” now for a few decades. They leave this part out of the gospel because they
are more interested in filling their church pews with people than filling up heaven
with souls. Pointing out the sin in people’s lives is very unpopular these days
and most people tend to shut out the gospel because of it. But stay with me for a little while longer and
open your hearts to what God’s word has to say about sin.
The bible tells us that sin entered the world through Adam.
Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone has sinned
(Romans 5:12). The bible expands on this verse and states that all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This means that one sin in
your entire life keeps you out of heaven. The math is very simple here; everyone
has sinned so therefore we are all on our way to a place called hell. But most
people don’t believe in a literal hell or often misunderstand God’s reason for
creating this place called hell. They say “how can a loving Father send anyone
to hell?” First off God never created hell for you and I, He created hell for
Lucifer and the fallen angels that rebelled against God. God gave all of us,
even his angels the gift of “free will” and we all have the CHOICE to
love Him back and accept His gift of eternal life. God is in the process of creating his eternal
family and giving us the choice where we will spend eternity – with Him in heaven or
we can choose to stay in sin and live out this short life without Him which
will result in being cast down to an eternal hell on judgment day. That is what Satan and
his demons have chosen and they want to take you with them.
When the bible talks about life and death, it generally doesn't mean our mortal life and death on earth, it means our eternal life or death. The bible tells us that if you don’t repent and believe that Christ has paid your penalty in full, then “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and “you will be cast into the lake of fire,” where you will experience the second death, eternal damnation for all of your sins. Jesus describes hell as a place of anguish and sorrows for eternity. It is a place where you are conscience of your life and your decision not to repent will be your eternal torment (Luke 16:19-31).
The Gospel – The Good
News
So now
that you made it through the bad news, it is time for the good news. One of the
greatest misconceptions that people have today is that God gave us the Ten
Commandments to help us achieve our own righteousness so we could earn our way to
heaven. That couldn't be further from the truth. God gave us the Ten
Commandments so we would realize our need for a Savior. The fact is that none
of us merit or even deserve heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest anyone should boast.” If you have bought into the religious lie
that being a good person will get you into heaven then you will be sadly
mistaken on judgment day. You have been saved through grace which is the gift
of God and not out of your own good works. If we go back to John 3:16 and read
what that gift is, it is His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Jesus stepped
down from His thrown, came to this earth in the most humble of ways. He wasn't born to an earthly king or queen, He wasn't delivered in a kingdom surrounded by
royalty, no, He came through a humbled bond servant named Mary and was born in a dirty
stable without any pageantry. He lived a spotless, sinless life and was
rightfully named the Lamb of God. In the same way the Jews would sacrifice a
spotless lamb for the sins of their people, God sent His own spotless Lamb, His
son Jesus Christ to be sacrificed on the cross for the sins of the world. Only
He could pay the price for your sins and my sins. He was the only spotless
sinless being that walked this earth and could ever pay for the sins of the
world. Now all you need to do is receive this gift.
What Must I Do?
The
next question you may be asking is how do I receive this gift? Mark 1:15 says “The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in
the gospel.” Some of you may be reading this and saying “but I believe in God,
I always have and I believe in Jesus.” Yes that may be true and is a required
step to salvation but the question you should be asking yourself is: “am I born
again?” This is by far the most important question of your life, why? Because
Jesus tells us in John 3:3 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born
again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Again, this is Jesus uttering these
words and Jesus is God, and God cannot lie. So now you know that you must be
born again. You may have the head knowledge of God, but you must make the
choice to transfer that belief to your heart. God doesn't look at any other
part of the body but the heart since it is the heart that reveals a man’s
intentions and private motives. The Bible tells us “For the Lord does not see
as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the
heart.” (1Samuel 16:7b)
So what does it mean to be born again? What this simply
means is that you have to die to yourself and give your life over to Christ.
You must accept the FREE GIFT of salvation and understand that there is nothing
you can do on your own to make it into heaven. You must accept that the price
for all of your sins has already been paid for by Christ on the cross. Once you
humble yourself and take that step, the Holy Spirit will dwell in your heart
and seal you (2 Corinthians 1:22). This
is what it means to be born again or born of the Spirit.
So how does one die to self? Great question; the simple
answer is that you must repent of your sins. Repentance simply means that you
realize you are a sinner and have a strong desire to change your life’s
direction and walk the other way, towards God. The biblical term is to change
your mind about sin. You must give up the things that hold you bondage to this
world. This is a simple answer but for most of us, a very difficult thing to
do. We get anxious to the thought of leaving behind the things of this world
that we believe drive our happiness, our wants, needs, desires and for some,
our faith. You have to realize however,
that these are the very things that separate us from God and will ultimately
result in death. Without this step there
cannot be any true faith or belief in Jesus Christ. Repentance is the missing
key that plagues Christianity in the modern age. Most people believe in God and
think they are saved by that faith but the bible says that even demons believe
in God and they tremble (James 2:19) - and we all know their fate.
Receive the Gift
Now back to the story of The
Unopened Christmas Gift. God has been patiently waiting for you to unwrap the
gift of His son Jesus Christ and receive eternal life with Him in heaven. So I
urge you to take some time right now to reflect on your life. Put down your
smartphone, tablet, laptop, turn off the TV and put aside your pride and think
about the sin that is currently in your life. Find your quiet place with God
and ask Him to help you with your unbelief. If you are sincere and ask with a
humble heart, the Lord will hear you and reveal himself to you. Pray and ask the Lord to reveal the sin that
has separated you from Him.
Follow these simple steps to open
the gift:
1.
Untie the Ribbon – realize that all of the sin
that has you tied to the world can be released by admitting it and quitting it.
“REPENT therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts
3:19).
2.
Open & Receive the Gift – Accept that Jesus
has paid for your sins on the cross and that He is the only way to salvation. “But
as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to
those who BELIEVE in His name” (John 1:12).
Now pray and ask Him to forgive
you all your sins. Pray something like this:
"Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am
a sinner and ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and that
God the Father resurrected You from the dead through the Holy Spirit. Right now, I turn from my sins
and open the door of my heart and life. I confess You as my personal Lord and
Savior. Please send your Holy Spirit to take residence in my heart. Thank You
for saving me. Amen."
If you truly prayed that prayer with a humbled heart then
you have now stepped over from death to life. Welcome to the family of God! I
pray that this Christmas is more meaningful to you and that you begin your
relationship with your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas and may the New Year be filled with Love, Peace
and Joy.
George Trejo
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