The Ultimate Gift

“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.” John 3:16 is probably the most well-known verse of our time. It is not commonly associated with Christmas, but it is the heart of gospel and the gospel is the heart of the Christmas story. For God so loved He gave the world a gift, a gift it desperately needed.

Everyone in the world is born with a fatal condition, sin. According to the Bible, all humanity has sinned and the penalty for sin is death. Thankfully, God, in His great mercy, had a plan to redeem mankind from its fatal condition. On the very first Christmas, God showed His love by sending His Son Jesus Christ into the world to save it.  

God’s gift to the world was the ultimate gift for several reasons. First, it was the gift we needed most. We were hopeless without Christ. The Bible is clear that there is no amount of good deeds we can do to erase the sins we have already committed. Only the Son of God, who lived a sinless perfect life, could offer Himself as an acceptable payment for our sins.

Second, His gift was the ultimate gift because of its great cost. For God so loved the world that He gave what was most precious to Him, His own Son. The perfect sinless Son of God paid the ultimate price for our redemption by laying down His life. We cannot grasp the full significance of this, but we need not downplay it either. The gift was priceless. 

Next, God’s gift was the ultimate gift because of its power.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,” (Romans 1:16.) Many people will say, “God can never forgive me because of what I have done.” God is able to forgive us of all sin, small or great, because the Lord’s death was the perfect sacrifice for all sin.

Finally, we must accept God’s ultimate gift. God’s gift was sending His Son Jesus Christ to save you. Through His death and resurrection anyone who calls on the name of Jesus can be saved. However, God does not force His gift upon you. You must accept it to be saved. You accept it by believing it is true. Jesus died on the cross and rose again three days later. He is alive today. Cry out to Him in faith and trust in the power of the cross. I ask you to accept God’s free gift of salvation. Mark Christmas 2012 as the time you received God’s ultimate gift and saved your soul.