Christmas and the Gift of Grace

The perfect gift for the person that has everything! That’s what the commercial said as it went on to describe why everyone, especially the person who has everything, would need one of these special super-duper gizmos. I didn’t buy the sales-pitch, and I didn’t buy the super-duper gizmo. If a person has “everything,” why would they need something else?

A gift is often unexpected, undeserved, valued and treasured because of the thought that went into selecting and presenting it. As it is with the Gospel. It’s the greatest gift of all time, for all people. We could do nothing to earn it ourselves, even though we often tried. It was undeserved because of our sin. It is valued and treasured because of the cost Jesus paid suffering and dying on a Roman cross. And it was, and still is, freely offered to all who would receive it.

At Christmas we often think about gift giving, trying to find that special something for that special someone. God had similar thoughts. We are His special creation, created in His image and we bear His image. Yet sin, violence, anger, hatred and conflict has marred that image and separated us from our Heavenly Father.

I believe Jesus had similar thoughts when He told the parable of the prodigal son in Luke chapter fifteen. The pain the father felt at being rejected by both his sons. One wanted money … a give it to me now attitude.  He wanted his inheritance, his right, his entitlement. The other wanted prestige and position, after all, he had obeyed all the rules. Both despised the father in their own way and were separated from him through their actions. Yet, the father offered the gift of grace. He offered it to a wayward son that, when coming to his senses, returned expecting to become a servant.  Yet, a ring was put on his finger, a symbol of belonging, and he was restored as a son. To the moralistic son he offered an invitation to come to the party, to celebrate, because all that the father had was his.

The gift of grace enables each of us to be restored as image bearers of our Heavenly Father, our “signet ring” of belonging is our salvation, sealed with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the guarantee of our belonging. The Gospel changes everything. For by GRACE you have been saved, through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:8-9).

I’ve been challenged as I’ve looked at grace over these past months. I’m learning to see grace in a new way and experiencing it in a more vibrant way. Grace is not something we hide and keep to ourselves; it must have a continuing outward expression as we now move out as His image bearers sharing this same good news that we experienced personally. The grace of the Gospel is the greatest gift of all time, for all people, and it’s still freely offered to all.

The greatest gift this Christmas is the gift of grace. Paid for dearly and given freely by a loving Heavenly Father to each of us. All we need do is receive it.

Praying that the gift of grace impacts your life this Christmas, and into the new year!

Bill Allan
AGC President