The First Gift of Christmas

I love Christmas! One of the things that I love most about Christmas is the movies; my husband would tell you that I watch the same ones year after year after year... one that I never miss is The Christmas Box. Throughout the movie, Mary, the older, somewhat mysterious lady is attempting to show John that his family is more important than anything else. She poses the question to him, "what was the first gift of Christmas?" In the final scene he tells her,"I understand now, Mary, the first gift of Christmas, it was a child. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son".

The first gift of Christmas was a child. God sent Jesus, as a baby, born of a virgin, to Earth, to live, to die, to save us... to redeem us... to adopt us into His family. Adoption. As many of you reading this already know, adoption is close to our hearts, especially this Christmas as we prepare to give our sweet Ameliah our last name. I would like to propose that adoption, should be close to all of our hearts, because you, if you are a follower of Christ, are adopted. I am adopted. Jesus was adopted.

Have you ever given that last statement any thought? The savior of the world, Jesus Christ, the one and only son of God was adopted. We read in Matthew chapter 1 the record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, the scripture, as was custom, records the lineage of the male, the father, in this case, the record of Joseph's ancestry. Joseph was the husband of Mary, he named Jesus, he raised Jesus, and he and Mary are referred to as Jesus' parents. Jesus Christ was adopted.

Not only was our savior adopted, but through Him we are as well. "God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by binging us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure" Ephesians 1:5. It isn't just a formality... we call Him Daddy... He affirms us as His children. Romans 8:15 tells us "You received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, 'Abba Father' for his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm we are God's children." It does not matter what your background is, what ethnicity you are, where you are from... if you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are adopted into the family of God. Are you catching on to the trend here that adoption is kind of a big deal?

The word adopt means to legally take another's child and bring it up as one's own; take on or assume (an attitude or position). Obviously the definition of legal adoption is important, we hope to legally adopt our princess in just a few short weeks, but according to the second part of the definition, we have already adopted her. We have assumed or taken on the position of her parents, the attitude that she is our daughter, our cherished baby girl.

Our sweet daughter was not born to parents who could care for her properly, but God already had a redemption plan for Ameliah... through adoption, her lineage will change. Through adoption, she will be known as Tommy and Katie's daughter, she is adopted into a family of faith, she will grow up knowing the truth of scripture, and I pray she will know her heavenly Father intimately and that as her mother, I will provide strong shoulders of faith for her to stand on. My prayer is that where there were chains of generational addiction, there will now be a legacy of freedom, where there was shallow ground, there will now be a firm foundation of faith.

What about you? What's your story? Are you rooted and grounded in faith in Christ? Have you been adopted in the bloodline of Jesus? If you haven't, I invite you to learn about God's perfect gift this Christmas. Just as God had a redemption plan for Ameliah, He has a redemption plan for you! He is not looking at you in condemnation... no, He is looking at you as a Father looking for his lost child to come home... He is looking for you to accept the love of Jesus and be adopted into His family.

Maybe you know Christ and you are adopted into the family bloodline but perhaps your earthly family did not give you a firm foundation of faith or maybe you don't have a family at all. I want to encourage you to pray and ask our loving and generous God to send you a family. A family to adopt you... whether you are 18, 30, or 70... if that is the longing of your heart, God can and will provide it for you.

Lastly, maybe you are the person who needs to adopt. I once heard a very special person say, "I feel like God is calling me to be a spiritual aunt, sister, mother... to people who need it"... there are people all around you who need love that only you can offer. They need to be adopted into a family where love is abundant, grace is sufficient, and the foundation of faith is strong. I pray that you and I would open our hearts and our homes this Christmas season and allow the Lord to show us who needs to be adopted.

In "The Christmas Box", Mary "adopts" John's family... she becomes like a mother to his wife and a grandmother to his daughter... she gave them a gift... the gift of love... the gift of family. To whom can you give that gift this Christmas?