The Gift to Die For

Designer handbags and jewelry. An iPod Nano with built-in camera. The Stress Eraser. And super, soft pajama pants with adjustable length and drawstring, elastic waist. What do these items have in common? Well, they made it to the top of the 2009 Women's Christmas Wish List! Gifts to die for. According to some sources. Did any of these things make your list? For me, not really. Except the pj's. With the drawstring waist. Because based on the way I've been eating during this Christmas season, I'm going to need something special around my waist in January. And I'm thinking that it won't be my jeans. But anyway, getting back to the Wish List. What I so want for Christmas is a new blog design. Yeah, like with a cute little button. And the "E-mail me" thing. And a Subscribe by E-mail thingy. And of course, a cool header and background page. Something kinda curly, swirly. And blue. My favorite color. Oh, I can see it now. A fabulous gift. To die for, right? Actually, none of these gifts merits that kind of response. But there is a gift worth dying for. And someone has already died in order to make this great gift available to us. The gift is salvation. The One who died is Jesus. I know. This sounds incredible. Unbelievable. But friend, it's true. Our Creator God loves us so much He offers us the most wonderful gift ever given. Salvation through His precious Son. The baby born in a manger. The Promised Messiah. Jesus Christ. No other way has been given for salvation. Only Jesus--Emanuel--God with us--can save us. Now, I know that current culture teaches that you're ok and I'm ok. All on our own. But that teaching just isn't true. The Bible, God's word to us, states clearly that we're sinners. And our sin separates us from the true, living, holy God. And only Jesus can connect us to God again. Without Jesus Christ and the salvation that He has provided, we will die in our sins and be condemned to hell to spend eternity without our loving God. Yes, these are tough words. Uncomfortable. So, let's go ahead and celebrate Christmas. Forget sin. Forget dying. Forget hell. We can't do that. If we do, then we're denying the true meaning of Christmas. We are sinners. We aren't ok by ourselves. We need a Savior. We need salvation. The gift that Jesus died to give. It is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV). Salvation. We can't work for it. Can't earn it. We don't deserve it. It's a gift. From the Father to us. I hope that you get everything that's on your Wish List. Most of all, I hope that you receive the greatest gift ever given. The gift that Jesus died for. Salvation. Sweet dreams, Deb