A GIFT IS FREELY GIVEN
Gifts – Ralph Waldo Emmerson (1844)
A gift is freely given.
A gift should have some thing of the giver in it.
A gift should have the character of the receiver in it.
The best gifts are somewhat extravagant.
The best gifts change our lives.
I love personal gifts. Thankfully, I am surrounded by artists. I have stained glassed windows my mom made, paintings that my sister and brother-in-law collaborated on, and a painting from my dear friend Randy Jacobs. When I look at them, I feel their love and appreciate their talent. Those gifts are priceless. – Jen Welder
Christ is truly a gift, freely given
Jesus has something of the receiver in Him, something of you and me.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:6-7 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus has something of the giver in Him
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 1:20 (NIV)
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Father, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
John 14:8-10 (NIV)
Jesus is an extravagant gift.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16 (NIV)
Jesus changes our lives
If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17