This Gift Is For You!
I remember Christmas mornings long ago. My brother and I dash downstairs at dawn, racing slipper-footed to the tree. We ignore the gifts addressed to other family members. But, oh, we pay great attention to the gifts tagged for us! We squeeze them. We shake them. We can barely wait to tear them open and make them fully ours. These gifts are important. These gifts are for us! A gift is much more significant when we know it’s addressed to us. Interestingly, the birth of Jesus is described as something given “to us”: For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given… For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Isaiah 9:6 and Luke 2:10 NKJV, underlining mine). Can you think of anyone else in history born for us? Imagine how odd to read that Augustus Caesar was born for us in Italy in 63 BC. Augustus was born, yes, but not “for us”. Augustus is not a gift with our name on it. Jesus Christ is. Of course, Jesus’ arrival in Bet