The True Christmas Present

Christmas is just around the corner. It’s a date where people used to celebrate the birth of Christ. Mostly Christians celebrate Christmas as they would like to take this opportunity to commemorate the birth of Christ which was intended to pay the depth of sins of His people for His overwhelming love to them. However, the whole world celebrates this festival as well, but it is reasonable to find that they don’t really understand the meaning of Christmas.

It is very common to see that “present exchange” is one of the activities in most of the Christmas parties today. I joined a Christmas party 2 weeks ago organized by PKV; they were having this section as well. Therefore, I was asked to prepare a present for that section. During that period, people exchanged the present among themselves and thankfully I received a book entitled “Living with Courage”.

I seldom go to Christmas party for Christmas celebration, that’s why I am not very familiar with present exchange. But it is not bad to have a thought on this topic – present. What is present? It can be known as a gift that you give away for free. If it is not for free, that would be considered as sale and this would be known as business. Actually I wish that I could just give away the present without receiving any as return but that would make me look very uncooperative. Anyway, I understand that the rule tries to make sure everyone receives something while giving away something and I would like to respect it by obeying it like how others did.

A question comes, “What does the present exchange mean?” Since it is very common in many Christmas celebrations, it is good to think about the points of having that section. What does the present have to do with Christmas? This is because at the first Christmas which was the exact date of the birth of Christ, our heavenly Father gave His only begotten Son to the world. (John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

How weird it is! How can a man be a gift? And what does it have to do with us? I wonder if you have ever prepared a birthday gift for your beloved or friends. What do we often think about when we are preparing a present? We think about what the person lacks. We were trying to identify his demand and supply accordingly. Of course, it is often headachy to prepare a gift for a rich person because he would already have everything he needs. Some people buy what they want, instead of what they need. We need to know that desire and need are two different things. 

  

God is omniscient that He knows us better than we could possibly know ourselves. He knows the ultimate need of men, He knows us inside out as He is the creator of the world. In his image, we were created. (Genesis1:27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. However, men have got into a big trouble ever since Adam sinned against God by eating the forbidden fruit. As sinners, we have to pay for the depth of sin – death. (Roman6:23) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. This death is not physical death, but actually spiritual death – the flame of hell which represents the eternal isolation from the presence of God. (2Thessalonians1:9) They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. We are considered totally bankrupt in the sight of God and having no hope and desire to reach God on our own. We are doomed, mainly it is because we fall short of the glory of God. (Roman3:23) For all have fall sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

 

Well, even though we are really meant to die, then what is so important about Jesus? Jesus is the Son of God who turned into fresh and came to the world he created. (Philippians2:6-8) though he (Jesus) was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. He came to fulfil the will of God. After ages of prophecies, 1960 years ago he finally came just to rectify the problem of sin, and redeem the people of God so that they can be able to glorify the name of God in Christ. Jesus himself did mention the purpose of his coming. (Matthew 20:28) Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. 

What has he done to save the world? Accordingly to the bible, Jesus was totally sinless and righteous but he was condemned by the priests and crucified to death for invalid charge. This righteous man died on behalf of us so as to pay the debt of our sins. Besides that, he raised from death, for his righteousness. Through His resurrection, we are justified in the sight of God and having eternal life in Him. All these were predestined and prophesied, it is actually the will of God to give us His only begotten son just to save us from death and the sovereignty of Satan. (1Peter 2:24) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

You may think “Great! We are saved as he died for us long ago. Thank for telling me.” Well. As what I mention before, the salvation through Jesus Christ is a free gift to us, but the problem is that you might not yet receive the gift from the hand of God. No one can force to receive a gift, unless we choose to receive. What should we do to receive salvation? Bible says:” If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”(1 John 1:9)  We have to pray to God to confess our sins that we fail to glorify his name and ask God for forgiveness. Besides, it is written in Act 2:38 that “Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”” We have to repent which is to grieve for the trespasses that we committed and decide not to sin against God. Besides that, we need to believe in Jesus and receive and honour him as our Lord and saviour as Bible says:” But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, and he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12) 

When we talk about "Believe in Jesus and receive Him as our Lord", it is all about surrender the lordship of our lives to Him and having a God-centred life ever after. We should know that the purpose of life is to glorify the name of God and enjoy Him forever. In order to please God by glorifying him, we should then learn about His words (The Bible). Have you come to know the problem of sin in your life? Have you come to realized that we are sinners who are going to die? Do you want to be saved from the bondage of sin? If yes, what have you been doing to satisfy your need or to save yourself? Have you realized our helplessness in achieving all these things? If yes, I hope you are aware that God has been knowing all these problems for long. Good news is that He has done everything that was required to solve the problem of sins, He has just paid off the debt of sins for those who believe in Him. He gave us the only present that we need the most at the first Christmas. Through faith we can receive this present though it was given long time ago. Have you received this precious gift - Jesus Christ? He is the one and only saviour who came to save us by giving up his life on the cross just to pay off the debt of our sins. (Act 4:12) And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

If you have received the gift long ago, then I would give thanks and sing praises to God for his wonderful love and grace. If you haven’t received the true gift of Christmas, then I would ask you to ponder about the salvation work of Jesus Christ throughout your life. Please bear in mind that we can only receive the gift when we are still alive. If you are not sure about the truthfulness of the things I have said, please pray to God to draw you closer to his presence until you realize that he is always there with you. Have a blessed Christmas! Dear friends

Children need to know God

Lately I have been busy of several things. I thank God that I didn’t break down because of the high working load in the ministry. Anyway, I am still striving to work for Him by appreciating the opportunity that he has given to me. Last year, I volunteer myself to be a group teacher in a one-day children camp entitled 玩出好品格 organized by my church members. I was not in the organization, but one of the teachers couldn’t manage to turn up that day due to emergency. Eventually, I was there to replace her.

This year, I made myself available to help in the camp, but I got promoted thankfully as a story-teller this time who was supposed to bring out the gospel to the kids with my title. One of the sisters made fun of me by saying that “I have been working in this organization for five years straight, but I never got promoted!” Apparently, I shall give thanks to God for having this precious opportunity to serve Him. And certainly I know that I was having the highest responsibility among them because I was the only one that would directly preach to them on the stage. Thank God seriously, that He guided me how to prepare myself and how to bring out the gospel with my title ‘Tolerance’.

In my sharing, I introduced Jesus, the Son of God, to the children as he is the most tolerant people in the world. He possessed the highest standard of holiness and morality. He was an upright person who was the man of his word. He does what he says, he says what he does. He blessed the poor and cured the sick with his miraculous hand and love. He did a thing which is against the commandment of God. Instead of being honored, he was whipped by the cruel soldiers, treated like a criminal and eventually hung on the cross to the point of death. Throughout the process of terrible treatment he remained speechless without cursing the people who tortured him. Over here, Jesus showed the greatest tolerance level ever in human history, a man without doing a single bad deed who was being cursed like the son of evil didn’t condemn those who mistreated him but pray for them while hanging on the cross for the forgiveness of Holy Father. After I shared all these, the children showed the face of guilt for being so intolerant in the comparison with Jesus. At the last part, I shared with them that through pain and death Jesus the Son of God wants to save those who repent and believe in Him as God loves the world. I led them to make a prayer and the sharing ended.

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Luke 23:34 “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
   

Children are sinners as well as the adults, but one thing they are different from adults is that they can reach to God very easily. No matter how naughty a boy can be, he will get silent and pray at the prayer session. This action may be considered as superstitious by the elders but to me, they are “effective” believer who truly believe the existence of the almighty God after being taught. Their faith can be greater than most of the elders’ faith because they are humble and having nothing to boast about. I choose to believe that God did bless the children who died at the early stage of their lives where they still didn’t have the ability to understand the gospel and give response to it accordingly. Because after all we are saved by grace instead of rationality, and God can really bless them by granting them a new-born heart by His grace of love regardless whether if they have the ability to make the decision to follow Christ. They may never perish in the love of God.

Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Anyway most of the elders at my church did it very well at teaching their children about the knowledge of God. I keep tracking the progress of the children and how their parents’ parenting skill. Thank God that through the fellowship in Christ I was given many lessons on parenting. There are some interesting things to share based on my observation. One of the children named Berith, about 3 years old, who just learnt how to speak was one of the remarkable examples to me. She doesn’t know the names of her parents and her own name as well. But at this stage, she is trained to know God and having the worldview of Christian. Her parents carried out a Q&A section with Berith in front of me. Below is the conversation of them.

Parents:  Who created you?

Berith answered: God.

Parents:  What else did God create?

Berith: Everything in the world.

Parents: How many God do we have?

Berith: One God.

Parents: How many persons in God?

Berith: Three.

Parents: Who are they?

Berith: Holy Father, Holy Son and Holy……. Spirit.

Parents: What is God?

Berith: God is a spirit, unlike human having a body.

They showed me how parenting plays a very important role in a family. The children of God in a Christian family have the right to know about God since they were born. They mind their parenting very much. 2 Timothy 3:15 “and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” I remember what they have shared with me “Teaching your children to call you “Father” or “Mother” shows your own self-centeredness, teaching your children to call themselves shows how much you encourage them to be self-centeredness, teaching them to know God in the very first place helps them to be God-centered.”

Another girl named Audrea of about 5 years old is another example that amazed me. In last Sunday service, I sit beside a close elder brother in Christ when worshiping our Lord. The speaker shared about death and the reason why Christians shouldn’t fear death, because death is the process that brings us to God. Instead of being afraid of death, some Christians like Paul desired to die as early as possible for his desperate to meet his almighty Lord.

Philippians 1:23 “I am pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”
  

Hebrew 11:13 “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”

Afterward, I turned my face and asked my brother and said:” It is really true that Christians do not fear the curse of death, but look for the eternal life that God has in store for us through death.” What he shared with me next surprised me seriously. Below is our conversation.

He said:” Yes, my daughter told me that she wants to die.” 

Immediately I asked:” Why?”

Gently and gladly he replied:” Because she told me that she wants to see Jesus.”

I said:” Seriously? Wow how wonderful it is!”

He said:” Indeed. But it is just too frightening to most of the parents, especially non-believers.”

I can tell how intensively they emphasize in their parenting about the glory of God. It seems like they just don’t care how much their sons would honor them, but they strictly demand them to honor God at the very first place. They don’t train their sons to be very talented, but mainly God-centered as they know the most valuable thing of life is our Lord Jesus Christ.       

Never want to be nobody

Identity is very important for an individual. In everything that we do, it seems like we are striving to search for the identity that we are meant to have. I believe no one would like to be nobody.I find it very interesting that in real life all of us are trying to build up an identity for ourselves. As long as you still have the hope of living, you will keep on searching for your identity by building up one.

Definitely, no one would like to boast about their weakness and incapability. We never want to be weak but strong in a particular field in order to be outstanding and remarkable. Looking for the sense of self-existence and being significant is the common instinct of all humankind. I agree with the previous statement very much when I read it in the book of "win friends and influence people". We never feel good when our existence is not appreciated, we never feel happy if we are considered so insignificant. It is very interesting to see how those senses become essentially important to an individual, though those are not really considered as the basic need for living things.(air, water and food) However, this is one of the important needs that brings the hope of living for an individual.

Of course, we often see how hard the basketball players train in order to improve themselves so that they may perform well in the games. With all good performance, they can earn some sense of being significant. This happens to all the people. For instance, students study so hard in order to excel in the examination with flying color; the singers train so hard to be impressive when they sing! This is also very common in direct sale networking team building. They instill you the hope of great future that comes after your hardship and encourage you to be proactive and confident! They claim themselves as the dream seeker.

Besides, this happens even for those gamers who are not considered as the contributor to the society! They never want to be called as "noob" in a particular game, they want to be honored as the real hero and being significant in the team play! Drinkers do the same thing by challenging among themselves with the personal capacity of alcohol consumption. Even though they are aware of their situation where they may be risked of alcoholism, but still they need to prove themselves somehow.

This happens to a family as well. A  father feels being honored in his family as he is consider very significant as the financial support and family leader. The mother is given the sense of being significant when her effort of managing the home well got appreciated. As the sons and daughters, they will also try to satisfy their parent expectation in order to be given recognition from them. I have never seen a father being so happy for being incapable, a mother being so Satisfied when the home gets messed up, and the sons delight when they are scolded. That doesn't make sense. A question here: Is it the phenomenon that shows the instinct of humankind to search for the identity they would desire? Is it possible that one can live without bothering about that? About the sense of self-existence? the recognition? Sense of being significant? Being concerned? Or is it just a way of living in a world of relativism which never implies any message about the purpose of life?

I would come to believe that..we are looking for the truth of living, the purpose of life and the true identity. But unfortunately sinners refused to come in the presence of God, to look for the ultimate truth of living even He is the creator of human being. Romans 1:25 'because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.'

 It is not totally hopeless for human kind to get the truth even though we are dead to the word of God, because through the regeneration of Holy Spirit, impossible is made possible. Once He opens the eye of hearts with Holy Spirit and lead them into the truth in Christ, their lives would then begin to be purposeful and missionary as they know that they were created for the will and the glory of God and there is a purpose in the will of this awesome God. They are known as superstitious believers who believe in heavens and resurrection, but they are neither daydreamers nor visionaries, entrusting their faith in temporary matters for self-centeredness. True believers should be selfless as it is written in Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Instead of being self-centered, one who is saved by the grace of God should be Christ-centered.