One of my favourite verses about Jesus is tucked away in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, where he says, ‘Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!’ (2 Cor 9:15) In this letter, Paul urges the Corinthians to be generous in their financial giving because God loves generosity (2 Cor 9:7); He also reminds us that God is a God of rich blessing. (2 Cor 9:8, 11) Jesus becomes our motivation and model for giving. Because God has not withheld His only Son from us, we are urged to give our all to God.
There is a human tendency, however, to like the people who are like us and to give to those we love. Jesus challenges this way of thinking, saying ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ (Matt 5:44), going on to say, ‘If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?’ (Matt 5:46-47) Perhaps our greatest Christmas challenge this year is to give to someone undeserving of our time, love or money, because Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (Rom 5:8) He didn’t wait for us to be good and cleaned up before He came to rescue us. He didn’t wait for our gratitude and thanks before He went to Calvary. He came; He loved; He suffered; He died. We’ve received the most incredible gift – let’s pass it on!