… Christ Jesus, who, … did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by … being born in the likeness of men.

Philippians 2:5-7

It’s Christmas. As a somewhat manipulative youngest child, I realized that asking my parents for a gift they could not give me might make another wish seem doable. I never got the horse I requested, but that wish may have paved the way for other gifts. Our heavenly Father is not manipulated in this way. He looks beyond our wants to our core need: a relationship with Him. Only one way could this be accomplished, and so “the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world” (1 John 4:9) born as an infant in a stable in Bethlehem. Born as the sacrifice for our sins, winning for us eternity with God who loves us — the ultimate gift that money can’t buy.

Jill Rodenbeck
Fort Wayne, IN 

Heavenly Father, we treasure the precious gift of Your Son. Amen.

Reflect: Share Jesus’ story and love with someone who needs this ultimate Christmas gift.

Read: Galatians 4:3-5 and 1 John 4:13-15