An Unclaimed Gift

Each year, parents and children, both young and old make a sacrifice to purchase Christmas gifts for the ones they love. These gifts are wrapped in beautiful packages and laid underneath the tree. Excitement builds as Christmas Day approaches, and those who have made sacrifices are anxious to watch as loved ones and friends open Christmas presents. Mom and Dad watch with joyful faces as the daughter opens a beautiful package and then exclaims, “Oh Mom! This is just what I wanted!” And then hugging and kissing Mom and Dad, the grateful daughter says, “Thank you.” Then another package is opened, and the scene is repeated.

After all the excitement wears down, has it ever happened in your family’s living room that there is still one gift left? How sad to imagine that after sacrifice and expense, some gift is unclaimed, some package is unopened! How sad the giver must feel to think that the gift is not wanted! Yet the greatest gift of all, God’s Christmas Gift, Jesus Christ, is still unclaimed by millions!

Perhaps you have never trusted Christ as Saviour; you have never received Him. If that be the case, let me urge you to trust Him now.  The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is sufficient for all, but it is efficient only to those who believe. The words believe and receive are used synonymously in the Scriptures. The Bible says in John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” To believe is to receive. The Bible word believe means to trust, to depend on, to rely on. To receive God’s Christmas Gift simply means that one must admit that he is a sinner, believe the gospel story that Jesus Christ died for our sins at Calvary, and then trust Him completely.

It was, and continues to be, the prayers of our parents and grandparents, that each Berliner Kehler receives this gift, and that it not go unclaimed. Merry Christmas, enjoy the festivities!