All Wrapped Up

      A drive through the neighborhood finds the trash cans piled high with empty boxes and colored paper, all of it being the remnant of gifts that were given and opened.  I never was a good gift wrapper.  There are those who can square off the corners and trim the packages so they look like they were done by a professional gift wrapper.  Mine look like they were done by an 80 year old elf.  My Mother was a good gift wrapper from tie boxes to BB gun boxes.  I am thankful now for gift bags and colored tissue paper that makes the job a lot easier.  Instructions were given tot he shepherds, so many years ago,  that they would find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.  Even that would be important in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  John 3:16-17 says, " 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.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."   
      Much has been written about the wrapping of the the baby Jesus and I am sure that most of you have heard sermons on what it means.  There is not one coincidental fact about the birth that is not important.  Prophecies were being fulfilled with every minute detail.  As Galatians 4:4 mentions, it was the fullness of time.  Our verse for today, one of the most popular in this modern era speaks about the Perfect Gift.  We do know that God's Son was a Gift, because God "gave" Him in order that the world might be saved.  There will be countless gifts this year that won't last past the first set of batteries or that will soon fall apart.  The only lasting gift was the One that was given almost 2,000 years ago.  The Lord Jesus Christ has been satisfying the needs of His disciples in countless ways that we will never know about this side of heaven.  People in need will have their needs met by this Eternal Gift.   Grief will be satisfied by this Perfect Gift and His all sufficient grace.  Missionaries will have their needs met.  Those in danger will find help and resources in the Risen Savior Who had been wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger so many years ago.  The whole point is this.  You satisfaction for this year's Christmas will not be found in the ham from a grocery store or a winter coat  or that new electronic device.  Satisfaction is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ and while we all know that fact, we often either forget it or it becomes overshadowed with the contents in a brightly colored box.  So, take a moment real soon, where you thank God for His unspeakable gift.