In my last post, I talked about how Christmas is THE time of giving, because of what God gave to us— His one and only Son. Now when we receive such an overwhelming and awesome and wondrous and life-changing gift, it can inspire us to give. And you can see how that snowballed into a life-changing, culture changing, world changing movement.
Now, I understand that not everybody wants to receive this gift that God has given to the world. In fact, many seek to deny this unparalleled generosity as they substitute commercialism, materialism, self-interest or even Santa for the birth of the Son of God. But this is not natural, and not the way you were made.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:26-17)
I think being made in His Image is the theological way of saying God hard-wired Himself and our need for Him into our DNA. Now being made in His Image, you’ll find there are certain characteristics He has, that you have. For instance: because God is generous, you can be generous.
We find King David’s description of God’s generosity in his prayer: “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! (1 Chronicles 29: 13-14) Everything we have, has come from you. God is indeed generous.
Paul takes us even further in this benediction: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.(Ephesians 3:20-21) More than all we ask or imagine.
From being given everything, to more that we can even ask or imagine. That’s the benchmark of God’s generosity. Since we are made in His image, then His generosity is in you! And there’s the second reason why Christmas is THE season for giving—it’s in your DNA!
My next and final post in this series, we get practical: Whaddya Gonna Do About it?
Go Deeper
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