GIFT RECEIVED

DECEMBER 29, 2025

Ephesians 2:8


“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”




Throughout this Advent and Christmas season, I’ve been reflecting deeply on what the Bible is truly asking of me, what its message is through the readings from Isaiah, Matthew, Luke and John. And something has begun to shine through: these cherished Gospel stories extend a beautiful invitation for us to be receivers.

I know, it feels a bit backwards from how we usually approach Christmas, when we tend to focus on giving, being generous, and doing things for others.

Over the past month, our congregation has been busy giving in so many ways. We served a free community meal with Turkey and all the fixin's, we transformed a bare tree in the entryway into a colorful Mitten Tree for kids and families in our area. Some of baked for our Cookie Blessing that brought joy to around 40 families, while our GEMS club went caroling, sharing their voices and time with the neighborhood, passed out Christmas Cards and invitations to our Christmas Eve Community Candlelight service. And through it all, we still gave our financial offerings to support the church. It’s a beautiful reflection of the biblical truth: “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.”

But here’s what I’ve been wondering: maybe we also need to pay more attention to the receiving part. If you reread the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke, you’ll notice how strongly that theme shows up. Those passages go out of their way to show that human power, talent, or ability had almost nothing to do with what God was doing in Jesus’ birth.

Will Willimon puts it like this:

“God wanted to do something so strange, so utterly beyond the bounds of imagination that God had to resort to the strangest of means—a pregnant virgin and angels and stars in the sky—to get it done.”

When you look at everyone in the story, all the “manger people”, none of them did anything to make it happen. All they could do was receive the gift God placed in front of them. And honestly, isn’t that true for us too? Like Mary, all we can really say is, “I am the Lord’s servant… may it be to me as you have said.”

What I’m getting at is this: the Christmas story teaches us how to be receivers. Receivers of what? Grace. The unearned, undeserved gift God gives. Remember what the angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to those on whom his favor rests”, God’s grace, God’s goodwill.

Generosity is clearly important, as Scripture teaches and Jesus shows us. But receiving is just as meaningful—it’s a principle found in the Bible too. God came to us as a baby, reminding us to see ourselves honestly: people in need of grace, with nothing in our own strength to offer that could help. Just empty hands, ready to welcome a gracious God who didn’t leave us to face life alone, but gave us a gift that changes everything—and that gift is Jesus.

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”
2 Corinthians 9:15