Our Gift

by Ana Julia Luiz·December 16, 2022·2 min read

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This week I heard a sentence that I found very interesting. “At Christmas, it is Christ’s birthday, but we are the ones who receive the gift of love, grace and care coming directly from the Father”.

And this is a fact. Thanks to the birth of Christ we are entitled to the greatest gift there is: redemption, grace and being able to enjoy the Father’s love.

Tradition

Have you ever wondered what is the origin of this tradition of exchanging gifts? According to what the stories say, it began with the birth of Jesus.

In Matthew 2:1-12, it is told of the three wise men from the East. In this passage each of them brings a gift to Jesus after His birth: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

They say that it was Pope Liberius who made it official in 354 a.C. There is also the story of Santa Claus, which began with a Bishop who delivered gifts to needy children on Christmas Eve.

All these are stories that started the tradition of gifts, including the most socially accepted and passed down from generation to generation.

A proof of this for me is that even if my family is not well financially, there is this tradition. We make at least one Secret Friend.

The Great Gift

And now is the time we return to the sentence at the beginning of this text. The tradition of gifts began based on Matthew 2, but the greatest gift we could receive began to be prepared long before the foundation of the world, long before you and I existed.

The Lord gave us the gift of life, simply out of love, as quoted in John 3:16. We weren’t worthy, but today we have life, and this Christmas that is coming I invite you to reflect on this, on this love so great that we received only by Grace.

That you and I can understand today what is the greatest gift we could have, that material things are no longer our priority and that this Christmas we can reconcile with family members who are far away, forgive our brothers and remember that Jesus is our greatest and best gift. And that His life in ours will produce more love.

Merry Christmas, God bless you,
Ana.