What is in a gift. With Christmas fast approaching one has to wonder. Angry people push their way through crowded isles and long lineups to purchase cartload after cartload of presents. Some children have so many gifts to unwrap on Christmas morning, there is no way they will remember what they got or from who they got it. Their appreciation is not about the thought behind the gift but whether or not it is a brand name, and it measures up to what their best friend already has.
Let me share a story with you. Once there were two men who were great friends. Like most friendships, though, they often had disagreements. Sometimes their arguments caused them to go for days without speaking with each other. But most times they made up and renewed their friendship once again.
However, one time their disagreement was so strong, and they were so angry with each other, that their friendship seemed permanently severed. They stayed in their separate homes and avoided each other at all costs.
It was near Christmas and one of the friends began to feel a bit guilty about being angry with his best friend. Usually they exchanged gag gifts and he always looked forward to finding the right gag for his best buddy; and his buddy did the same for him. They had great laughs over the years by some of the joke gifts they had received from each other.
He decided he was going to do something special this year to win the love of his friend back. He was a master wood-craftsman, so he worked tirelessly to make a gift that would express how he really felt about his life-long friend. When it was all made he took special care in wrapping it, tying a ribbon around it, and placing a bow on top.
He felt really good about the gift and believed it would do the trick at winning him back. He went to his friend's door and rang the bell. His friend opened the door and angrily said, "What do you want?" The other friend said, "I made you a gift and wanted to deliver it myself." The friend grabbed the gift (thinking it was another gag gift) and slammed the door. He went over to his closet and placed the gift on the top shelf. Christmas morning came and went and the gift was never taken out of the closet. There it stayed and was never thought of again.
One day the friend who had received the gift heard that his "one-time" best friend was diagnosed with cancer and had only a short time to live. A day or two later he died. The embittered friend never went to the funeral.
Sometime later he sat in his rocking chair and began thinking about the good times with his one-time friend. He remembered the gift, and for good-ole-times sake he thought he would open it and see what type of gag gift he had given him this time. He took it down from the closet shelf and removed the wrapping. He was surprised to find a wooden plague with the signature of his friend on the back. He turned it over and it said, "Best Friends Forever: Please Forgive Me." Tears began to well up in his eyes.
The moral of the story is that even though the gift was given with a lot of thought and feeling, it was never truly received by the angry friend - at least not until his one-time friend had died. Then it was too late.
Jesus was a gift given by God to the world. It was given with a lot of thought and feeling for mankind. Unfortunately, even though it is given, it is not always received. Many people leave it on the top shelf, still wrapped. Some people go to their grave without ever opening it; and they find themselves forever regretful and sad.
A gift is not a gift unless it is received and opened and appreciated for its full values. What have you done with your gift from God? Merry Christmas, and please open your gift.
-Leo
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