As Christmas draws closer, I feel the stress mounting as I think about how everything that needs to be done will get done. After many years, however, I know that it will get done and Christmas will come and go amidst a flurry of activities.

During these “countdown to Christmas” days, my quiet time with the Lord is vitally important. I read in Ephesians 5:1; And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. (NKJV)

It never ceases to amaze me that Almighty God, who had no need for anyone or anything but Himself, loved His creation so much that He took on human form and came into our world as a baby boy. He humbled Himself in ways that no human being can ever fully comprehend.

John Macarthur writes in his footnotes that, “He Who was perfect, gave us the ultimate gift in His Son, Jesus. Christ’s offering of Himself for fallen man pleased and glorified His heavenly Father, because it demonstrated in the most complete and perfect way God’s sovereign, perfect, unconditional, and divine kind of love.”

No Christmas gift will ever compare to what God the Father did when He gave mankind, Jesus Christ, His only Son.

Father, please help me to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas. Help me in the midst of all the shopping, baking, wrapping, decorating, sending cards, and visiting family and friends to keep my heart and mind on You and why we celebrate this special time. Amen

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (NKJV)