The birthday of my soon was close and I had spent days wondering what I would
buy for him as a birthday gift.
I decided to check out a departmental store and browsed through the toy section.
I could not really make up my mind on what to buy. Just as I was about to give
up, I saw a toy motorcycle and I knew I had hit jackpot! My son loved
motorcycles and would appreciate this toy as a birthday gift!
On the day of his birthday, I presented the gift to my son and boy, did he love
it! Nothing interested him any more but his 'Okada' (name given to motorcyclists
in Nigeria). That same day however, the motorcycle and its plastic rider met
their untimely end. I was upset, could not imagine why Praise just would not
handle the toy with care. I told him I wasn't going to get him another gift but
of course that was just to make him feel sorry. But like the typical 2 – year
old he was then, the motorcycle toy was soon forgotten and he shifted attention
to the other toys in his possession.
How many times have you heard that salvation is free? The Bible says that the
gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus (Rom 6:23) A gift is free to
the receiver but to the giver, it costs something. Just like it cost me money to
buy the birthday gift for my son, so also it cost God his only begotten son to
give us salvation freely.
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us remember that the saviour of the
world came as a very expensive cost to God. Jesus Himself had to give up
everything – His glory and divinity so that you and I could have this salvation
freely.
The danger in receiving a gift, something you didn't pay for, is that there is
the tendency to trivialize it. Just like my son didn't think much of the toy
motorbike after the damage had been done, so also many Christians trivialize the
salvation we received. The reason is because we do not appreciate the enormous
cost Christ had to pay to redeem us from the curse of the law.
Jesus paid for our salvation with His own life - that is something we dare not
trivialize. Let this Christmas be a season to share the great news of God's
wonderful gift to all mankind. The greatest gift of all!
Steve Popoola steve@biblepraise.org
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
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