Give Your Best Gift to Jesus

Ahhh, Christmas! What a wonderful time of year! It is a time for family and friends. Christmas seems to bring out the best in most of us. If you have lived around Southern Ohio as long as I have, it is hard to imagine Christmas without a little bite in the outside air temperature and the hope for a “white Christmas.” Yet, even with all of these enjoyable experiences, there are a few things that I dislike about the Christmas season. I hate the commercialization of the holiday. I really don’t like to shop at all. I love to give gifts to my family and friends, but I really don’t like the fact that in our culture Christmas is more about the money than the caring or the worship of the Savior.

Christmas, at its heart, is about Jesus. We give the gifts to people we love or care about to celebrate the greatest gift ever given. The arrival of a babe lying in a manger, announced by angels, was the gift of a Savior given to the world. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was sent to give His life to die for our sins and not ours only but for the sins of the whole world. The gift of eternal life is given to those who believe. That has to be celebrated! Giving is the best expression of gratitude. So giving to those we love is very natural.

I believe giving should go beyond those we love to those He loves and gave His life for. There are 1.6 billion people in the world who have not heard the Good News, and 6,424 people groups in the world that have no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They do not glorify Him or worship Him. How can we say we love Him and not care about those He loves?

One of the ways that Linda and I demonstrate our love for Jesus is to give our best Christmas gift to the Combined Mission Offering at Urbancrest Baptist Church. The Combined Mission Offering goes to the heart of lostness. 10% goes to reach the state of Ohio, 10% goes to World Hunger, 40% goes to reach North America through the North America Mission Board, and 40% goes to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering of the International Mission Board. Over 10,000 missionaries are serving literally all over the world sharing Jesus with those who have never heard about our Savior. These are some of God’s choicest servants who work in some of the most difficult places in the world.
 

Urbancrest’s Combined Mission Offering goal this year is $50,000.00. That is the highest goal we have ever set. Each week we are getting closer to accomplishing it, but we still have quite a ways to go. People are waiting to go tell those who have never heard, but the funds are lacking to send them. What a great gift we can give our Lord by sending workers to those who have never heard!

This year, give your best gift to Jesus. After all, it is His birthday! But even more importantly, if we are faithful to give, there will be souls in heaven rejoicing and worshiping Jesus with us for eternity!