“…for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11 NASB)

As youngster Christmas came and Christmas went.  That is still true for people of all ages, unfortunately.  Yesterday, children received gifts and they reacted to them with smile and joy.  My question for all, do we miss the deeper purpose of the gifts we were given?

I remember an annual “gift” for me and my siblings we for my father to bring train track that had added features every year.  Was it there for us to play with for the couple of weeks merely for entertain us or was it there for a deeper purpose? For instance, were we to learn some dynamics of physics as we controlled the velocity and considered the force and momentum of the train?  Or was it there to teach us that to keep on track in life, we have to be attentive?  Was it there so that we would see by the annual additional features that are blessings do not all come at once?   I think there was a deeper purpose.

It’s true for other gifts.  Baby doll, dolls of color, were to teach that we were fearfully and wonderfully made and that children require a lot of attention and dedicated time to care for them. The chess set, or checkers set was not just to play, looking intellectual, but to actually develop are problems solving skills.  The tinker toy, I suspect, was not just to play with, but to develop our creativity.  The doll houses were our first instruction in interior design.  The kid watches we were given us had a deeper purpose; to know that time not only passes on, but that time is filled with swift transition.  Our first Bibles, given in different colors, were not just to carry to Sunday School, but rather to learn that God’s words is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.  I believe that the gifts received on Christmas morning had a deeper purpose.  They still do today!

Now, recognizing and celebrating Jesus’ birth on Christmas; when it comes to this “Gift,” there is a deeper purpose.  We have to go beyond the Luke passage above, all the way to Jesus, death on Calvary and His resurrection.  We have to see the deeper purpose of this “Gift” and how it applies to our lives.  Go deeper my friend!  Be blessed!

“But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” (Romans 6:8-9 NASB)

Still committed to the climb,                                                                                                                      

Mark L. King