“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” 2 Corinthians 9:15
"You'll shoot your eye out!" Every adult says to every kid who has ever wanted a BB gun, and this line is repeated in the movie A Christmas Story.
The film, set in the 1940s, tells the story of a little boy named Ralphie. Ralphie attempts to convince his parents, his teacher, and Santa that the perfect Christmas gift is a genuine Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model BB Gun with a compass in the handle and this thing that tells time. One of the movie's most touching scenes is when Ralphie’s Dad, the Old Man, gives Ralphie the gun. At the end of the film, the narrator, who is the adult Ralphie, says the BB gun was the best present that he had ever received or ever would receive.
A Christmas present can have a great impact.
Many years ago, before we were married, I asked Amanda what she wanted for Christmas. She said, "My life is so complete now that you are in it; I don't want anything. Don’t get me anything for Christmas.” So, I didn’t. I was young and ignorant. I did not know that when a woman says, “Don’t get me anything,” it means, “You had better get me something!”
That Christmas, Amanda’s parents invited me to their house. Everyone got up early. Amanda, her momma, and her sister were in the kitchen. I sat in the living room with Amanda's dad. I didn't know it then, but Amanda was in the kitchen and said, "I can't believe I have been dating that jerk all this time, and he didn't get me anything for Christmas! I can't believe I thought about marrying him!”
After breakfast, everyone opened gifts. Amanda was sitting with an angry look on her face. She didn’t know I had got her a present, an engagement ring. I reached into my pocket and handed her a tiny box. She opened it and saw the ring and began to cry. I asked her to marry me, and she said, "Yes." Amanda's dad said, "Oh great! Of all the losers she could have picked, I get this idiot for a son-in-law.” Amanda told that story to someone the other day, and she said, "I went from hating him to loving him." She said, "Each day has been the same since. I go from hating him to loving him every day." The ring, a symbol of our commitment, brought a new perspective to our relationship, transforming her feelings from anger to love.
A Christmas present can have a great impact.
A ring is an ordinary gift. Many women get an engagement ring. However, for each lady who gets a ring, it is the most impressionable gift she will ever receive.
The ring I gave Amanda was not much—it was a small, inexpensive ring wrapped in an ordinary box—but Amanda loved it. She loved the ring for what it requested—that she spend the rest of her life with me.
A Christmas present can have a great impact.
God's gift of eternal life is ordinary. It is offered to everyone. But to the individual who unwraps the gift, it changes the rest of their lives. God's present to us, wrapped in Jesus Christ, is full of life and hope. But it is not so much the present as the request behind the present—that you spend the rest of your life with Jesus. Just as Amanda's life changed when she accepted my proposal, our lives change when we accept God's gift of eternal life.
Amanda did not say, “Yes, but I’ll marry you later.” Our life began together when she accepted. Likewise, God’s promise of eternal life is not only when you die. It is now and forever.
The point is: The Gift with the greatest impact is waiting for you today. The Bible calls Jesus the unspeakable gift. He is so incredible; words can't describe Him, and He wants to give Himself to you this Christmas.
Won’t you come un-wrap your Present?
Jesus is the Christmas Present with the greatest impact… and you won’t shoot your eye out.
