“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”  2 Corinthians 9:15

Giving is central to Christmas. Just talking about Christmas and gift giving likely brings fond memories to many of you of favorite gifts received or given. But along with the good memories many of us also have regrets about the busyness and over commercialization of the season. The Bible can help us to keep things in perspective.

2 Corinthians 9 tells us that giving is more about our attitude in giving than the gift itself. Verse 7 of that chapter says that we should not give grudgingly or out of necessity, but because we want to, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God knows all about giving for he lovingly gave us the “indescribable” gift of Jesus.

Jesus is the indescribable gift because it’s impossible to fully comprehend the greatness of what God did for us in sending Jesus to live a righteous life and die a sacrificial death on our behalf. By his death Jesus pardons us from the sin that makes us guilty before God, and by his life he showed us true righteousness.

Jesus did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We owed the debt, but he paid the price. And he did it willingly, out of love. Perhaps the best way for us to contemplate God’s indescribable gift is to think deeply about the Bible’s most well-known verse and the one that follows it: “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17). Thanks be to God  for his indescribable gift!”