The Best Gift

Invariably on Christmas morning, you open a package and there is a fresh pair of socks or underwear. Thanks to Mom or Grandma, you’re covered for the next year in new unmentionables. (I wonder if we were to return the favor and get them new skivvies, would they appreciate the thought?)

What kind of clothing would you rather find under the tree? Does a warm coat or silky blouse appeal to you? How about some Heelies or an expensive pair of jeans that look like they’ve been thru a fight with a belt sander?

Everyone seems to like to get clothing for Christmas. And if it doesn’t fit, they battle the crowds in the return line the next week…exchanging it for a better size or color. Maybe all they really want this year is a big fluffy white robe. It’s something to snuggle into with a good book, and it has enough coverage to dash outside for the newspaper without embarrassment.

You see, ever since our first ancestors we’ve been trying to cover ourselves. They tried with fig leaves…but how long could those last? And have you ever felt a fig leaf? It’s a fuzzy leaf that had to be itchy and it eventually dries up and crumbles. Before Adam and Eve left the garden, God knew the fig leaves wouldn’t last. He made them their first clothing out of animal skins—the first sacrifice recorded in the Bible. Genesis 3:21

Did you know that God has a present for you this Christmas? It’s not a wild pair of toe socks or pink bunny suit. It’s a robe. (Isaiah 61:10) And it’s one size fits all. You won’t want to take it back, because the price was too dear. You see His son paid His life for that robe. And it covers you completely. It covers every sin and misdeed you’ve ever lived. It will never wear out, in fact it’s guaranteed to last forever. And when God looks at you standing there, He looks at you as if you are His only child.

It’s His gift to you, and all you have to do is accept it. Merry Christmas dear reader, may you put on the robe of Christ this Christmas. (Galatians 3:27)

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and {all} tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches {were} in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
Revelation 7:9-10