In our culture, at Christmas we exchange gifts, a wonderful expression of love. Yet, as Christians we really ought to jettison out of our communities any hint of a high jacked holiday. How might we go about this, though? Culture is a powerful presence and it takes some work to move it off center stage and onto something nice but not essential.

For four weeks followers of Jesus have journeyed through Advent. We’ve prayed and searched and hoped and looked forward to a time and place where the kingdom of God in all its glory will be the natural order of things. Celebrating Jesus’ birth into history helps us realize that God is in the midst but that there are miles to go before we sleep.

We think it unselfish to give gifts; and it is. Yet, perhaps we ought to recognize that Christmas isn’t about us and our unselfishness. Christmas is about the Self-giving, Self-sacrificing love of God for his creation, moving Him into the very fiber of what He created. Christmas is about what God gave to the world in the life of the Baby whose birth we choose to celebrate on December 25.

Look at what God has gifted us with in the life of this baby boy. Paul wrote, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (I Cor. 1:30). Now these are some real gifts. The prophet, Isaiah, tells us this child is a “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6). This drives home the point that God is the Giver of everything we most need.

May God help us to receive what He has given and to live and move and have our being in the depths of His amazing grace.