For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. – John 1:16
I know it’s only October, but as a lot of us begin putting together our Christmas gift lists for loved ones, I think it’s worth asking: Do you remember what you got for Christmas last year? I don’t. Oh, I’m sure you remember if, for instance, you got engaged, your parents gave you some fantastic vacation, or like those lucky weirdos in the TV ads, you got a brand new luxury car in the driveway with one of those gigantic bows on top. (I bet you even remember where you put that bow.) But most of us receive a variety of thoughtful gifts from our loved ones that we appreciate and then tend to get used to and forget about twelve months later.
But I bet you remember certain gifts at certain milestones in your life. I remember the Christmas I got one of those coveted Swatch watches. I was 9 or 10 —this was in the mid-1980’s—and it was the only thing I really wanted. A Swatch on my wrist would make me look so cool, man. And my parents disguised the gift in a big box filled with heavy rocks in the bottom, so when I opened it last, my disappointment thinking I wasn’t getting that watch would turn to happy surprise at being fooled. I remember that.
And I remember the Christmas a couple of years ago when my college-aged daughter, who’d heard that story and sneakily inquired which model Swatch that gift was exactly, found the same model on the Internet and surprised my middle-aged self with it. It now sits proudly on a special watch stand on my desk. I remember that.
The special gifts we tend to remember. But most of us can probably count those on one hand. It’s a good reason to start extra early and think extra hard about our gift plans, isn’t it? And it’s a good reason to make the gifts that actually “keep on giving” a priority in our lives.
Christmases come and go, and in the ordinary days following we put away gifted clothes and kitchen items, and we use up gift cards, and so on and so forth. Most of us go through many seasons of thoughtful but nevertheless eventually forgettable gifts. It’s an ironic reality, given the unforgettable Gift we are ostensibly celebrating at Christmastime. But it’s a symbolic reality too, because the grace of Jesus himself also comes with a steady supply of attendant graces given to us through Jesus. And these gifts we sometimes forget. We take them for granted. We put them to everyday use without thinking too much of them; we tuck them away and save them for a spiritual equivalent of a “rainy day.”
Hopefully all of us who profess faith in Jesus daily remember the primary goodness of the gospel—forgiveness of sins and the guarantee of eternal life. But the simplicity of this good news often belies the complex treasure trove of spiritual gems we receive along with it. As the apostle Paul says, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32, emphasis added).
With the single gift of Jesus Christ, we are also given a multitude of gifts. All things!
Like what, for instance? Well, intrinsic to our forgiveness is the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit and the justifying declaration of innocence before a holy God and the imputation of (having credited to our account) Christ’s perfect righteousness! Intrinsic to eternal life is the indwelling presence of the Spirit bearing fruit in our life, conforming us over time through sanctification to the very image of the Son, as well as the promise of seeing Christ in the age to come and living for ever with him and enjoying a resurrected body with which to enjoy a new earth.
The gifts of the gospel, so apparently simple at first, just go on and on and on. Through faith in Jesus, we are given a spirit of power to go with our new heart and a renewed mind. Through Jesus, we are given a blessed hope and a strengthened faith. We are given “precious and very great promises,” even becoming “partakers” of God’s very nature (2 Peter 1:4). Jesus himself gives us his joy. He himself gives us his peace. He himself gives us his very self!
These are the gifts inside the gift to which Christmas points, and there are so many others besides. In Christ, every day we are guaranteed a fresh set of mercies (Lamentations 3:23). We don’t have to be afraid of using them up. They are ours for ever. They aren’t stingily given or meted out in measured amounts. In fact, every day we receive all of these gospel gifts, and we’ll keep receiving them every day for all eternity. They are even ours when we don’t particularly “feel” them or find them especially “useful.” They are still ours when our faith is small and our spirit is weak. They are still ours when we are convicted by our sin or crushed by discouragement. All of these gifts are ours, because Jesus Christ is ours.
In Christ, every day we are guaranteed a fresh set of mercies (Lamentations 3:23). We don’t have to be afraid of using them up. They are ours for ever.
So as you plan this fall for all the gifts you’ll give this Christmas, be they uniquely special gifts or thoughtfully ordinary gifts, remember to offer thanks to the Giver of all good things. In fact, I’ve written a new Advent devotional to help you do just that! Gifts of Grace, which is now available from The Good Book Company, treats each day like opening up a gift in an Advent calendar, each of which helps us to see an ever-increasing treasure trove of glory brought to us by Christ in his gospel. I hope it will bless you and add to your gift of never-ending.
After all, every good and perfect gift comes from him (James 1:17).
“But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men’.” – Ephesians 4:7-8
Jared C. Wilson is assistant professor of pastoral ministry at Spurgeon College, author in residence of Midwestern Seminary, general editor of For the Church, and director of the Pastoral Training Center at Liberty Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri. His books include Your Jesus Is Too Safe, Gospel Wakefulness, The Imperfect Disciple, and Supernatural Power for Everyday People. He lives outside Kansas City with his wife, Becky, and their two daughters.
