Can presents bring lasting joy, let alone everlasting joy? Gifts wear out, become tarnished and sometimes broken. No one gift, it would appear, can give us complete unending joy. In fact, nothing on earth provides a lifetime of happiness.
So is there no joy to be found anywhere? Well, it depends where you look, or more to the point, who you look to. We can be burdened by so much in this modern age that we bounce from one thing to another, never really stopping long enough to take stock of where we have come from, let alone where we were heading.
If our life was a line, what would it look like? Perhaps the straightness of a line on a pad resembles your life, or is it more like the bounce of a cardiac monitor? Yet through all the ups and downs, one gift remains constant; the gift of Christ who has taken our ups and downs, brokenness and sin, providing us with the hope of eternal joy. Now that’s a present to keep close.
It’s often been said that it is better to give than to receive. This Christmas it’s better to receive Jesus for He is God’s pronouncement of everlasting joy to the world!
Isaiah 9:6 & 7a : “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice
from that time forward, even forever…..”
