“Let us thank God for his priceless gift.” (2 Cor 9:15 GNT)

I won’t play Scrooge and bemoan all the money spent on gifts in the Christmas season.

Truthfully, I enjoy giving gifts as well as receiving them — but maybe not quite as much as my wife does.

Why give gifts at Christmas?

After all, the gifts we give do not go to the one whose birthday we celebrate.

There is an inclination to give built into humans because we were created in the image and likeness of God.

Generous giving is inherent in God’s nature and therefore is reflected in ours.

God is aptly called the “Gifting Giver” in some of Stephen R. Lawhead’s Celtic novels.

Yet, all too often we do not follow that inclination.

Because our forefather Adam chose to seek his own interests rather than to trust and wait on God, the image and likeness of God is marred in all Adam’s descendants; thus, we are born “deformed.”

Self-centeredness is a dominate tendency we all have to deal with because we are of the fallen human race.

However, the inclination to give remains even though our giving is often not “pure giving,” but rather is motivated by the desire to get something in return.

Some become even more self-centered than others, perhaps because of disappointment, hurt or anger. Some have cultivated hard heartedness.

Thankfully, our forefather Adam (whose name in the Hebrew language simply means “man”) does not have the last word.

In the fullness of time, another man was born, a man whom the apostle Paul identifies as the last Adam.

This man, Jesus, is the exact image and likeness of God, the embodiment of God’s nature.

Jesus is the gift the father gave. Because the father loved the world, he gave the son to save the world. (John 3:16)

Jesus, however, was not a passive gift.

As He said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many,” (Matthew 20:28 NLT).

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven,” Jesus declares. “Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh” (John 6:51 NLT).

Jesus offered his life so we may have a new life.

When, by God’s grace, a person trusts in Jesus and is born again, God gives that person the gift of his own Holy Spirit who comes to abide within us in order to empower us, teach us, lead us and transform us so we may be increasingly transformed into God’s image and likeness.

Succinctly put, growth in godliness can be described as being changed from a taker into a giver.

In this Christmas season, let us give the best gifts we are able as a reflection of God’s love.

Let us especially give good gifts to people who need them most as a testimony to God’s generous giving.

First and foremost, let us give to God the gift he truly deserves. As the apostle put it, “give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him,” (Romans 12:1 NLT).

Steve Humble has been an elder at Winchester Covenant Church since its beginning in 1991. He can be reached at (859) 771-7138 or by email at steve.humble@twc.com.