The Best Gift of All

This Christmas message was prepared for an audio recording to be played this Christmas season on radio 89.9 TheLight*:

What do you get for the person who has everything?

That’s a dilemma seized upon by advertisers who believe they can offer the perfect gift idea.

God had a different dilemma:

What do you give the person who has nothing?

Not ‘nothing’ in a material sense,

but nothing spiritually,

nothing he or she can do to live in a right relationship with Him.

God made us and wanted us to live with him forever,

But something spoilt that relationship.

We chose to go our own way,

And there’s nothing we can do to turn that around.

So, what does God give people who have nothing?

He gave his own Son, wrapped up as a human baby,

To live like us,

To take the penalty for our rebellion,

To be raised to life again.

Why?

So that, by trusting him, we may have everlasting life.

Then we really do have ‘everything!

So, let’s set our hearts on Jesus, ‘the best gift of all’!

(*)
Every year, at both Christmas and Easter, I get an invitation from a local Christian radio station, 89.9 TheLight, to record a brief message of around 160 words, which equates to about a minute in length. The radio station provides a new theme for each season.

Messages from local church leaders are repeated on 89.9 TheLight over the days of the church festival and are also played across partner radio stations (TheLight Mix, TheLight & Worship).

The challenge is to make the message simple enough and relatable to both Christian and non-Christian alike. (89.9 TheLight has about 50% of its listeners who are church goers and 50% who don’t go to church or consider themselves Christian.)