It's fall! That means it's almost Thanksgiving, which means it's practically Christmas. I'm not trying to jump the gun, but I do want to get this out there so you all have plenty of time to think and plan for this Jesus-celebrating Christmas activity if it's up your alley! Seven years ago when my husband and I got married, one of the things we had to talk through was how we were going to handle holidays. Family, food, gifts, and all that fun stuff. As a couple, we decided not to do Christmas gifts for each other or for our family and friends. Gasp! What? No presents on Christmas? Nope, no presents. Here was our thinking: 1. Our family consists of grown adults who really don't need (or want) anything. 2. We don't like giving out of a sense of obligation. 3. Christmas gifts tend to end up in give-away piles. 4. It's expensive. 5. It's stressful. 6. Christmas is supposed to be about Jesus, not presents. While I was completely on board with the decision, I really kind of missed the gift aspect of Christmas. Not the giving and getting of stuff - I didn't really care so much about that, but I missed wrapping things up in pretty paper and ribbons (it's an art project to me!) and I missed the hustle and bustle of the mall with all the decorations and the hunt for the perfect gifts. But I also really wanted to come up with a Christmas activity that we could work into our family tradition that actually celebrates the birth of Jesus . That's what it's all about, right? I present to you, "Christmas Story by Gifts"! We've been doing this in our family for a few years now, and everyone seems to enjoy it. We even had a non-Christian friend join us for Christmas one year, and he participated with us and really liked it as well. It was a fun and non-threatening way for him to learn about the true Christmas Story! Christmas Story by Gifts gets everyone focused on the real meaning of Christmas (the birth of Jesus Christ) and promotes selflessness and sharing rather than greed and "me, me, me" that so frequently overtakes people at Christmas time. Here's how it works: (Examples and Photos to follow) 1. The Christmas story from the Bible is divided up into 8 sections of Scripture (could be more or less, depending on your family/group size). We have 7 people in our family, but I leave it at 8 sections in case we have anyone join us unexpectedly. 2. Come up with a gift that symbolically represents each section of Scripture. The gifts shouldn't be for any particular person, but rather all the gifts are to be shared and enjoyed by the entire group. Also, they don't need to be anything big or expensive. Things like candy, games, or small toys work well. It's just supposed to be symbolic of the Bible story and get people thinking about it. For example, in the verses that talk about the wise men bringing Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, a good (and easy!) gift option would be chocolate gold coins. Look for things that can easily be shared by a group and would likely be enjoyed by most members. (It's OK if not every person likes every gift.) If your family or group does not all live together, find things that can be split up by households or individuals to take home. 3. Wrap each gift and add a gift tag with the Scripture reference and the number of the order it in which it should be opened (going in order of the Bible story). 4. On Christmas morning (or on Christmas Eve, depending on your family's preference), each member of the group draws a number out of a hat that corresponds with one of the gifts. 5. The person who drew #1 finds the gift with the tag marked #1. Before opening it, they read aloud the Bible passage that is written on the gift tag. They can either find this in the Bible and read from there, or you can pre-print the passages on paper to hand out to each member. 6. After reading his or her assigned Bible passage, Person #1 opens the gift. This gift is not "for" them, but is meant to be shared and enjoyed by all. 7. Person #2 then finds gift #2, reads the Scripture, and opens the gift. 8. Each remaining person will go in order of their number until all gifts have been opened. 9. After all gifts have been opened, you can divide the various gifts into goodie bags for each person if it makes sense to do so. So that's the overview. Every year I start fresh and head to the store with Bible verses in hand and hunt out gifts that seem to fit the various parts of the Christmas story, so it's always a little different from year to year. Now here are some photos and examples from what I put together last year. Some of the gifts require more explanation than others, but hopefully you'll get the idea! (I've included links for the Bible verses instead of typing them all out.) #1 Luke 1: 26-35 (Angel announces to Mary that she will bear a child.) This passage talks about how Jesus is the descendant of King David, so therefore He is of the seed of David. The gift? David brand sunflower seeds! #2 Matthew 1:18-25 (Angel tells Joseph that Mary will bear a child.) In this passage, the angel tells Joseph how Jesus will save the people from their sins. I clustered a few small things I found together in one package to show how our sin is dark like coal, but Jesus is our "Life Saver" and makes us clean and shiny like diamonds. The box with the diamond on it in the photo below is a little $5 toy I found where you can chisel away at a real rock and see if there is a real diamond inside. Supposedly some of the boxes contained real diamonds, but sadly I didn't pick out a winner on that one! It was fun watching four grown men try and chisel the rock away with a mini chisel to find out though! #3 Luke 2:1-7 (Joseph and Mary have baby Jesus in Bethlehem.) Ok, I'll admit it. This one was a bit of a fail last year. My family didn't really get it, but here was my thinking behind it. Mary and Joseph had baby Jesus in a stable where the animals hang out, and they laid him in a manger. This reminded me of the song, "Away in a Manger" and the lyrics, "The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes..." I saw beef jerky on the store shelf, and thought, "cattle." Maybe Mary and Joseph needed a snack for their trip back home from Bethlehem, since they were just there for the census, so they made beef jerky? Ya, I know, it's a stretch! I'll do better this year. #4 Luke 2:8-14 (Angel appears to the shepherds and tells them about the birth of Jesus.) This one is fairly self explanatory. Chocolate angel candies! #5 Luke 2:15-20 (Shepherds visit Jesus in the manger.) #6 Matthew 2:1-6 (Wise men search for Jesus.) The wise men knew to search for Jesus because they were knowledgeable about the prophecies about His birth made in the Old Testament. For this gift, I found this little pamphlet that charts out fulfilled prophecies throughout the Bible. Since our family lives in three different households, I bought three of them, so we could each take one home. #7 Matthew 2:7-10 (Wise men follow the star to Jesus.) This little star-shaped Jesus tin contained individually wrapped peppermint candies. #8 Matthew 2:11-12 (Wise men bring Jesus gifts.) One of the gifts they brought Him was gold, so chocolate gold coins are an easy choice for this one! Here are all the gifts wrapped and tagged with their corresponding Scripture printouts: A close-up of the tag: Those were the gifts I chose for our family last year! I stuck mostly to food items to keep the cost down and to make things easily shareable, but in the past I did a couple larger things like puzzles and games that everyone could play together. It's really up to you, and you can be totally creative. One year I even "wrapped up" a song that reminded me of one of the Bible passages and we popped the CD into the player and listened to the song as a family. That one didn't cost a dime, since I already had the CD.
I hope this gives you some inspiration to celebrate Jesus this Christmas! Christmas Story by Gifts is something that you could do in addition to regular gift giving if that suits your family, or it could take its place entirely. Consider doing this in place of stocking stuffers and celebrate the story of Jesus, rather than the story of Santa Claus! To organize this, you could have one person put together the entire project, or you could assign each person in your group one of the Scripture sections to shop for and wrap. It could be a fun activity for a Bible study group to do at Christmastime that really brings everyone's focus back to the reason we celebrate. Have fun with this, and may your Christmas season be full of Jesus this year!
0 Comments
Most of us want to go to Heaven. I have to think that even people who don’t believe there is a Heaven and Hell must at times wonder in the back of their minds if they might be wrong and hope they’ll make the cut.
Fortunately, God doesn’t want us to have to wonder and worry about whether we’ll make it. He lays it out pretty clearly for us in the Bible! You can know your eternal destiny. Below is a list of truths you can examine within your heart in light of God’s Word to be confident that you belong to Him and will spend eternity with Him in Heaven. 1. Understand that you don't deserve to go to Heaven. You can't BE good enough or DO good enough. God demands perfection, and no one meets that requirement. You can try really hard, but ultimately, you will fall short. God doesn’t grade on a curve, nor does He weigh your good deeds against your bad deeds. "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Perfection. Perfect actions. Perfect thoughts. Perfect attitudes. Perfect motives. God also says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23 and 6:23) All of humanity has failed to meet God’s requirements to go to Heaven and deserves death. This all sounds really depressing, and it is. But this understanding is crucial to having a right relationship with God. God wants you to come to Him with an attitude of humility; He is the Creator and you are His creation. He is perfect; you are not. “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:10) 2. Understand that God loves you and wants a relationship with you. Even though you have fallen short of the perfection He demands, God still loves you anyway and wants you to go to Heaven. He loves you not because of anything good you’ve done, but because you are His creation. He came to earth as a man to pay the penalty of death He requires for our sin. He did that for you. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) 3. Understand that Jesus is enough and did enough. God’s love for you was demonstrated through His Son Jesus, who took the sins of the world, including yours, upon Himself and died the death that you deserved. Going to heaven is not a result of who you are and what you can do, but rather who Jesus is and what Jesus did. As Jesus died, He announced, “It is finished.” He paid the debt that you and I owed, and made it possible to have a restored relationship with God. Jesus rose from the grave after three days, proving His power over death and the ability to grant new life to those to put their faith in Him. 5. Understand that Jesus is the only Way. All roads do not lead to the same place. All religions do not lead to God. Regular church attendance does not even guarantee that you will go to Heaven. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) If there were any other way, why would Jesus have laid down His life? God wants a personal relationship with each of us through Jesus Christ. 5. Understand that Salvation from Hell is a free gift. While there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, God does want to give it to us! He offers it to us freely. We simply accept His gift of forgiveness, accept His grace, accept His mercy. That’s it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) “For by grace you have been saved by faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 If you acknowledge your sins and inadequacy to God, believe that Jesus died in your place and rose again, and believe His promise for eternal life, you will go to Heaven. 5. Understand that when you belong to Jesus, He'll never let you go. You are secure with Him. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28) Paul also wrote in Romans, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (8:38-39) Since there is nothing you can do to earn your salvation, there is also nothing you can do to lose your salvation. It’s not dependant on what you do, good or bad. Once you have eternal life, it’s just that: eternal life. Forever. Anything short of this diminishes what Jesus did for us on the cross. What is Eternal Life? Contrary to what some people may think, the point of Heaven is not to satisfy all our wants and pleasures. Neither is Heaven about sitting on a cloud strumming a harp for all eternity. Yes, there is a heaven, and yes, it’s a great place, and yes, it’s forever. But all that isn’t the point. Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3) Eternal life is about knowing God in a personal way. Heaven is about being with God. It’s about going home to our Savior Jesus and spending eternity with Him in a place free from the pains and consequences of evil on this earth. It’s about being with the One we love, and living among others who share a love of Jesus and our Heavenly Father. That being said, if you don’t love Jesus and and don’t care about being with Him, God won’t force you into His home and into a place where you don’t want to be. You’re invited, but you have to come on God’s terms. Jesus tells us, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) What if I’m Not Sure I Believe These Things? If you are concerned about going to heaven, God is likely already at work in your heart. We don’t have to understand everything about Him, and it’s normal to have questions and doubts. Below are some steps you can take to increase your understanding of God and how to go to Heaven.
Resources I love my God. He is my Creator, my Father, and my Redeemer. He is my strength when I am weak. He is my constant in a world of change. He has a way of lifting my spirits when I’m down, and casting light on a dark situation. He gives me a purpose and value as His child. He is gentle, yet firm. Forgiving, yet just. Brilliantly creative, astoundingly incomprehensible. He knows the perfect time to be angry, but graciously draws those in who have regrettably done Him wrong. He doesn’t put up with disorder, and makes clear His ways. What is the point of this life but to know Him? Not to better ourselves, but to be made complete by His touch. He has breathed life into our lungs, fashioned the shape of our flesh, and continues to mold and shape our spirit and our character into the likeness of His Image. Friends, it saddens me that so many think of religion as a means to be good, or a set of morals and beliefs. Perhaps that is religion, but it’s not Jesus. Knowing your Creator in an intimate way is life-giving. He knows your deepest hurts, your ugliest scars, your guiltiest moments. And He loves you. He loves you in spite of what He knows of you, and loves you enough to walk with you through a journey of change and growth, setbacks and failures, joys and triumphs. Clichés and formulas and rules to follow are not what Jesus intended for us. He is real, and though many of us claim to believe in Him, I think sometimes we forget that He is real. I do. To talk the talk and say the right words is easy. To know deep in your soul the amazing Truth and the Life of Christ is overwhelmingly powerful and you can’t help but radiate His light from your being. The world needs to see that, but it’s scary to be passionate about Someone whom so many can’t see and don’t understand. Does anyone know they need forgiveness anymore? Has anyone done that of which they are truly ashamed? Jesus forgives those who ask Him. And He covers you with so much love and grace that you don’t want to do whatever bad thing you did ever again. You don’t want to disappoint Him. It’s not easy to admit my failures. Sometimes I don’t even recognize them until my loving God points them out to me. Sometimes He uses the words of my husband to show me my selfishness. Sometimes He uses a pastor’s sermon, or words on a page, or a comment by a coworker. And sometimes it’s a gentle whisper to my heart to show me where I went wrong. It’s out of love that He does this. He wants to heal me and make me better, but first I need to know my weaknesses, so that I can ask for His forgiveness and strength. Many say that they don’t need to be religious to be a good person. In a sense that’s true. Many non-religious people put me to shame in the areas of generosity and kindness and other good things. But the truth is that none of us, religious or non-religious, are good enough by God’s standards. Only God is truly one hundred percent good. It doesn’t do me any good to compare myself to others, because God demands perfection, and of that we all fall terribly short. Comparing myself to Jesus is a surefire way to a humble heart. The point of “God” and “religion” isn’t to be a good person; it’s to be a forgiven person. And no list of rules and commandments can offer forgiveness—only a Person can. Only Jesus can. So if you don’t know Jesus, no religion in the world can save you. It’s just not how it works. I love Jesus. I love that He cares about the details of my life. I love that He’s always there for me. I love that He forgave me, and I love that because of Him I don’t need to fear death, or what comes after death, because I know with certainty I will be eternally with my God who created me and loves me. Jesus died for my sins, and rose again conquering death. That’s a God worth loving! The Apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 3:14-18 sum up my heart on this: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. I found this little article buried in my email that I wrote a year ago, and I was encouraged to look back at this moment of my life and see how God was working in me. I hope it might encourage some of you as well! We live in a culture that values being strong. The ladies are told to be “strong women.” Strong men are more respected than weak men. We aim to have the attitude of warriors and conquerors of life’s challenges. Men and women alike spend hours in the gym strengthening and toning their physical bodies. There is nothing wrong with being strong, but there is a greater strength that comes only in weakness. Sometimes our own “strength” is a mere cover for weakness and insecurity that we know truly lies beneath the surface. All the positive thinking in the world can't change what's really there. God said “My power is made perfect in weakness,” and this has been a theme in my life the last couple of weeks as God is teaching me to rely on His strength. I’ve been struggling with feelings of inadequacy for life’s demands: Demands of my marriage. Demands of my job. Demands of trying to keep with the housework. Demands of planning ahead for the future. The more effort I put in, and the more I aim to please, the more I seem to fall short. When I feel like I’m giving it all I’ve got, and still not meeting the expectations of myself and others, it’s very discouraging. What more can I do? I’ve heard similar stories from women who have struggled to keep up, and I know my story is not unique. These other woman talk about how they were trying to do things in their own strength, when they should be relying on God’s strength. Intellectually I understand that, but spiritually and practically, I haven’t known how to grab hold of that truth and make it a reality in my life. I think it’s my time to embrace what God is trying to teach me in this area. At a time when I need it most, everywhere I turn, I’m being sprinkled with Scripture and truth about how God helps us in our weakness. Friends and family have been posting Bible verses on Facebook. The music at church included lyrics about our weakness and God’s strength. Radio sermons have been about it. God wants me to hear this right now. I’m learning that the more I come to terms with my own limitations and weaknesses, the more I can boast in God’s strength when He comes through for me. Having an attitude of humility rather than a souped up “Strong woman-I-can-conquer-the-world" mindset is both more honest and freeing to the soul. "And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." 2 Corinthians 12:9 |
AuthorFull time office worker, full time wife, and full time lover of Jesus. I'm kind of a Bible nerd, and I have a passion for finding ways to introduce Jesus in a practical way to everyday people doing everyday things. Archives
August 2017
Categories
All
|