The REAL Gift of Love at Christmas, …and all year ’round

Even though Christmas DAY has passed, we are still celebrating the Christmas SEASON. 

But if you were to ask a random group of people what they “love” about Christmas (the day AND the season), you’d probably get answers ranging from giving/receiving gifts, to time off from work, to spending time with family.

And while those things can certainly be gratifying, there’s no question that they are also ephemeral by their very nature:

• Your ‘shake weight‘ now resides in the back of a closet somewhere, waiting for the day when you “get around to using it…”,
• You DID go back to work, …or you will soon,
• And the family, eventually, puts away the Christmas decorations, and goes back to the daily and weekly routines.

Yet there IS one Christmas gift which never loses its beauty, and is the greatest “gift” of all time:

God’s gift of His Son.

It is The Gift that not only defines love, but fulfills every dimension of love. To be truly FILLED with God’s Love and fully appreciate the GIFT of His Son, we must understand the full dimensions of it.

In the third chapter of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, he prays that God would dwell in hearts, by faith, and that the Love of God would fill our being. Later in the chapter, he goes on to list the dimensions of His love: (emphasis mine)

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

–Ephesians 3:17-19 (KJV)

For me (and possibly for many Christians), the breadth, length, depth and height of God’s Love is summed up in one verse. It is, in my humble opinion, the most powerful…..and wonderful…..and AMAZING verse, one that I could meditate on for days on end. 

It is, in a word, THE gift; the ultimate expression of love, and the REAL “reason for the season.”  These 25 words changed my life forever:

“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.”  John 3:16 (KJV)

Breadth:  “For God so loved the world”. It wasn’t just a “piece of the world”.  No. It was the THE world. All of it. And EVERY person in it.

Length:  “That he gave His only begotten Son”. Because of our sin nature, we were separated from Him. Christ FULFILLED the law for each and every one of us, to mend the rift and bring us back to Himself. That God would send HIS Son to earth to bear the cost of mankind’s sin, and to suffer an horrific death on the cross,  expresses how much He loves us…what lengths He would go to for us!

Depth:  “That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.”  (Romans 6:23) His love literally reaches into the depths of eternity and brings life to those who will call on the name of Jesus.

Height:  “But have everlasting life”.  The height of God’s love is expressed fully in the resurrection. As Christ died, was buried, and arose on the third day to ascend into Heaven, He brought ALL believers with Him!

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So…while some are busily trying to remove all mention of God from our public discourse, and others are taking “Jesus” out of “Silent Night”, I invite you to “open” the greatest gift of all time.

And may the love of God, expressed through His Son, pour over you, and in you, and fill your very heart and soul.