Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 207 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Christmas Love: The Story of God’s Gift to Us #1
Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 207 of our Trek, and this week we are hiking the Christmas trail to learn about some of the key players in the Christmas story. It is my hope that we will learn from these stories that bring hope to the world, not only during Christmas but each day of the year. Each story will cover two days and for today, we will explore the first part of the story titled Christmas Love: The Story of God’s Gift to Us. These stories are adapted from lessons taught originally by Raymond van Plesten. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.
We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. This episode is airing on the day before Christmas, as we are be heading north and arriving at The Big House late this evening. Since we are celebrating our family Christmas on January 9th in Charlotte, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day should be a nice relaxing time for Paula and me. We do plan on sharing Christmas dinner with my brother Jack, his wife Ann, and our dad. Jack and Ann are hosting the dinner, so all I have to prepare are my favorite creamy and buttery mashed potatoes. So, it will be a break from the usual cooking that I would be doing.
During this Christmas week, we continue to invest our time in our Trek together reflecting on the true stories surrounding the original Christmas. It is by design that on our hike on the Christmas Trail today and tomorrow we will be exploring the ultimate gift, which is God’s gift to us – salvation through Jesus Christ whose birth we are celebrating. Today we are exploring the first part of our story.
Christmas Love: The Story of God’s Gift To Us #1
I want to start with a story that I read recently, and it goes like this…Christmas was an exciting time and Joie was excited too. He was only 10 years old, and he was as excited as any ten-year-old boy could be. For him, Christmas was still a time of wonder. He did the things most 10-year-olds do. He played ball, rode his bike, climbed trees, and went fishing with his dad. He was a happy kid. He just enjoyed life – every part of life. To him, life was full of wonder and amazement. And Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year.
It was Christmas Eve and the ground was white with snow. It was cold, and it was clear. The stars were bright that night and seemed so close that you would have thought you could reach out and touch them with your hands. The family was on their way to the grandparents’ house – that was the family tradition. Joie could hardly wait. He was excited, and his mind just raced with ideas about what he might receive this year. What present would be under the tree for him tonight?
Every year the family would gather at grandpa and grandma’s house. There was always a huge tree and there was always a present under the tree for each person there. The kids would sneak peeks at the presents and find out where theirs was located. Joie was usually one of the first to find out where his present was placed, but this year it was different. He didn’t find his right away, even though he searched all over.
He began to worry because he couldn’t find it. Then his eyes caught a big box in the corner. It was a huge box – the biggest present he had ever seen. He slowly walked over to it and sure enough written on the tag were the letters J – O – I – E. He was grinning from ear to ear. His eyes were wide with excitement.
Grandpa always handed out the presents. Grandpa was not very fast, but this year he seemed especially slow, and wouldn’t you know it, Joie’s name was the last one called. As soon as his name was called Joie bolted up to Grandpa. “Is this really mine, is that big present really mine?” he asked. Grandpa reassured him it was. As soon as he knew it was his, he tore into the package, and what do you think he found? What do you think was inside that large box? It was the best Christmas present Joie had ever received.
What do you think it was…? Well, I will leave that up to your imagination of what you would like to have. We all have ideas of what the best present is, don’t we. We can all picture in our mind what the best present is.
How do you measure the value of a present? How do you judge its worth? By its size, or by its weight? Do you judge it by its cost, or perhaps by its usefulness?
What I would like to do today and tomorrow is examine God’s present to us. It is wrapped up. It has bows on it. It is standing in the corner, and it is large. I will read from God’s Word the best present of all time found in 1 John 4:9-11.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
How do you measure the value of God’s gift to you? I would suggest three ways. We will explore the first one today and then save the final two for Christmas Day.
1. God’s gift to you is measured by its usefulness.
What is the usefulness of His gift to us? Notice the usefulness of the gift in verse 9. “…so that we might have eternal life through him.”
Jesus said it this way in John 10:10, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
What a promise that is! Not just life, not just existence but life which means something – life that has worth, a rich (full) and satisfying life. Life with a purpose. A life which has value. Life with meaning. A life that will have eternal consequences and benefits.
Ephesians 1:4 – Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
FACT: I am here for the glory of God.
Your purpose is to live a life that magnifies the Lord, to encourage and support fellow Christians, to become more like Christ, to use your gifts and talents in helping others, and to tell those who don’t know Jesus that there is Good News. Your purpose is to bring glory to God in all you do and say. And when all is said and done, you should long to hear the words written in Matthew 25:21, “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’”
God says you have brought me glory. You have enlarged the kingdom of God. You have done well. God’s gift of salvation to us is useful. It gives us meaning and value. Our purpose is to bring glory to God.
Because of God’s love for us, He has provided the best Christmas gift to us – a rich and satisfying life on earth and a life for all eternity. God, through Jesus Christ, took on human flesh and dwelt among His creation so that He could redeem us. This Christmas take the time to reflect on the wonderful gift that God has given us and fulfill your purpose of bringing glory to God. Tomorrow we will explore the final episode in our Christmas Story series this week with part 2 of Christmas Love: The Story of God’s Gift to Us. Please encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
That will finish our podcast for today. Remember to listen to your daily dose of wisdom each day. Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.
Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.
As we take this Trek together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!
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