Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10 (NIV)
A lady wanted to buy some Christmas gifts for her special friends. In the busy weeks before Christmas, time ran out and she had to abandon her idea of buying gifts. She decided instead to send each friend a Christmas card. It would be much cheaper and easier. She was very pleased to find a pack of 50 cards. She liked the picture on the front. “That’s perfect,” she thought to herself. Once home she quickly signed all the cards. “With all my love,” and mailed them to her friends. Two weeks later, after New Year, she happened to look more carefully at one of the leftover cards from that pack of 50. She was shocked to read the printed message inside the card, which obviously she had not noticed before. It said, “This Christmas card is just to say, a little gift is on its way.”
Christmas is the season for giving gifts but giving the perfect gift is difficult. It’s hard to pinpoint a person’s taste and what they need in their life and match it to your gifting budget and keep it appropriate for your relationship. Choosing the right Christmas gift can be a minefield and may even cause apprehension and anxiety for some.
According to an online source, there are two strategies for finding the right gift. The first is to be ‘recipient-centric’ – where you try to find a gift that reflects the qualities or interests of the person receiving the gift. The second is to be ‘giver-centric’ – which is where you are focused on giving something that reflects your own personality or discloses something about you as an individual. We all try to find that ‘perfect gift’. We know God gave mankind the Perfect Gift when He sent His Son Jesus. Jesus reflects the One who gave Him and also reflects knowledge of our needs. He is the gift who perfectly embodies God’s love, generosity and goodness. God’s gift came to us in the humblest of wrappings and yet this gift is unparalleled. Paul said:
Thank God for his Son – a gift too wonderful for words! 2 Corinthians 9:15 (NLT)
Jesus told the woman at the well that if she knew the gift of God, she would ask Him for living water. “If you knew the gift of God…” This Gift is very personal – if you knew the Gift; your name is on the tag. The amazing thing is that not only are we able to know this Gift, but we are able to share the Gift with others, like the Samaritan. This gift offers unconditional love, unending hope and eternal life to every person who believes in Him. Today you have the opportunity to say thank you to God for His Gift and to invite others to unwrap this Greatest Gift of all.