"It's all about the gift"

Merry Christmas to everyone!  I hope this has been a wonderful day for you.

As always Christmas has been lots of fun at the Brown home.   We start by opening up our presents before 9:00 am while enjoying the smell of home made cinnamon rolls in the oven.   My wife makes the best!!

As a family we especially enjoy watching each other open the gifts we bought for them.  I think we like watching their reaction to the presents as much as we enjoy getting our own.  Okay  maybe that sounds like an adult thing to say but it is true.  I guess it only makes sense that if we have searched for the right gift we are anxious to see the reaction when it's opened.

When it comes to gifts, I think sometimes we know we've bought the right one!  Sometimes its because of all the hints. hahah  .Other times we're not sure if the gift is destined for the service desk return counter or not.

I think we did good this year.  I don't think that anyone will have to fight the lines to give back gifts!

Yes gift giving at Christmas can be a lot of fun and hopefully your loved ones enjoyed everything you selected for them.    Socks seemed to be a real theme for our family this year.   Christmas socks for the girls and the older boys (I'm the oldest boy of course) received everyday crew socks!  We needed them...  I know I have a lot of holy socks to throw out.  Movies was also a hit.  Everything from adventure, comedies, love stories to Disney.  There's no reading material this year.  We'll maybe next time.

Hopefully along with all the wonderful gifts you'll remember the greatest gift given by the greatest gift giver of all.  Yes, today we celebrate that we have been given a Savior.  I'm pretty sure God knew that he had the right gift for us and I'm sure that he waits with anticipation to see how we'll respond to that gift.  I wonder how sad he is when we reject or turn away his gift.

This Christmas receive the gift of Jesus.  I know that you'll be glad that you did!

Now it's on to another Christmas tradition around the Browns.  Taking naps and enjoying the smells of the traditional Christmas Lasagna.  Oh what a gift it is to have a wonderful wife who's also a great cook!

God bless and Merry Christmas

Our offering of praise! 1 Chronicles 29:11

So why do we give to God?  I think there are many good reasons but really the only one that matters. Simply stated, "God deserves our gifts."   God is worthy of all our honor and praise.

David in our verse for today clearly understood that.   In context, his prayer is his joyous response to the peoples gifts for the building of the temple and his joyous proclamation of God's glory. David proclaims,

 "Yours, O lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.  Yours, O Lord is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all."  1 Chronicles 29:11

Yes God is great! and we give as a way of praising him!  and this may be surprising but our generous, sacrificial and joyous offerings bring pleasure to the Lord in the same way that you find pleasure in a heart felt gift from your children.  Our gifts are the way we say,  "I love you." 

Does God really need our gifts?  Did God need such a lavish temple that was perhaps more elaborate and ornate than any other structure in existence?  Yes! God is worthy and God is able to provide for each person who brought forth their Silver and Gold.

Oh how sad it would have been if God's people didn't respond to David's plea to give to the building of the temple.  How sad it would have been if God's first permanent temple went unfinished because God's people didn't love him enough to fund it. 


To ponder:   What does my giving to my local church or to other mission causes say about my love for God?

Remember the amount of our gift is not as important as the heart of our gift.   A sacrificial heart gift from one person to the next will probably be drastically different but whatever your gift is.... offer it as an expression of praise to the Lord.