Christian Christmas Gift
A Christian Christmas gift.
What makes something we give a Christian a Christmas gift? It’s something we give that celebrates Jesus, which puts Him center stage in this celebration that has become an entire season. As believers, we think of Christmas as a spiritual celebration, but we know it’s so much more to everyone around us that we feel uneasy about how the Central Character seems like just another part of it.
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Most of us will give gifts at Christ-
mas and a Christian Christmas gift is
one way to celebrate Jesus and to |
 Only $9.95 |
share Him with others.
One of the most unique ways we can focus on Jesus is to give people the same thing that the wise men gave to Baby Jesus -gold, frankincense, and myrrh -because each of these gifts, the first Christmas Present, tells us something about Him.
GOLD
is certainly the most familiar of the three original gifts. It says to Baby Jesus, “You are a King.” At Christmas time Jesus is a Baby and, as such, looks cute and cuddly, Someone Who is easy to love but not Who we feel obligated to obey. But the wise men asked, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” (Matt 2:2). He may not have acted like a king during most of His earthly ministry, but at its end He said to Pilate.
You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this reason I
came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.
John 18:37
In doing so, He illustrated further characteristics of gold: its durability and strength under pressure. We remember Job who amidst more trials than we could imagine, said that when God tested him he would “come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10). Beyond the baby steps under your protection your child will face great trials in life, but it will be faith which tried like fire will help him through it (I Peter 1:6-7).
Many people run after this world’s gold, but Jesus has His own gold, a steadfast faith, that can really make us rich in Him.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich.
Revelation 3:18
FRANKINCENSE
Along with myrrh may seem like a bit of a mystery to us, but it also speaks of Jesus' destiny. It was an herb thought to be calming and soothing, but was more famous in Jewish culture as “incense.” The High Priest burned it as a holy fragrance to God. (Exodus 30:34). Its presentation to Jesus says to Him, “You will be a Priest.”
A priest is like a bridge between God and man. Jesus came as our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), One Who is able to sympathize with all our weaknesses having been tempted in every way, yet without sin. He is the One Who can lead us to the Father. And as our High Priest, He lives now to intercede for his people (Hebrews 7:25).
The frankincense further speaks of the fact that the Baby is also God. Gold is a gift given to a king and frankincense is burned to God.
MYRRH
from the Arabic word for bitter is a bitter herb. It’s considered a wound healer because of its antiseptic properties and a pain medicine because it’s an anti-inflammatory. It was a preservative and was used as a burial spice. In fact, the Egyptians buried mummies in it and Jesus given myrrh at His birth was buried in it at His death (John 19:39).
But why would the wise men celebrate death at all, especially at the Baby’s birth? This would be like someone giving you formaldehyde to celebrate a new addition to the family. It was almost as if God said, “Sure, the birth of Jesus is a time to celebrate, but He came as a marked man, destined to die.”
The gold spoke of His destiny to be a King. The frankincense said that He would be a Priest, bridging the gap between us and the Father and also pointed to his divinity. The myrrh told us that He would be our Sacrifice.
Christmas is a great celebration. But amidst all the things going on it’s easy for us to lose track of Who we are celebrating. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh are symbols of the roles of the One we are celebrating. What better gift could we give than something which would celebrate Who He is?
