GIVING
December has been known as the “month of GIVING” especially in America. I remember when my family and I just arrived in this land many years back, we were invited to attend a Christmas party at my sister’s house. In our home country, we did not celebrate Christmas as much as here in the land, so we did not fully understand what’s gonna happen at the party. We came to my sister’s house with empty hands - no gifts in hands, and when the moment came to open the gifts, my sister had gifts for each of my family members while we had nothing to give her and her family in return. We felt so embarrassed because we did not prepare any gifts – not because we did not want to GIVE but it was out of our ignorance, we did not know at all the customary practice in this country. At that embarrassing moment, I offered apologies to my sister and said, “We will double our gifts for you next year.”
The National Retail Federation's annual survey of holiday spending estimated the typical American spent $659 on gifts for family, friends, and co-workers in 2019. On the high end, Gallup puts the average at $942, with more than a third of respondents expecting to spend over $1,000 on gifts, reaching up a total of more than $1 trillion in holiday spending in 2018. According to Jay Zagorsky, a senior lecturer at Boston University, to find the perfect gift, Americans spend about 15 hours shopping, and women do about twice as much as men. https://qz.com/1760576/how-much-money-should-you-spend-on-christmas-gifts/
Looking at the fact and results of the survey, gift GIVING is a big deal for most American families. They saved some amount of money throughout the year for Christmas gifts, because they care and they want to show that they value the role the receivers play in their lives. This is the way they celebrate friendship and love and trying to be a better person to their spouses, children, families, and friends.
More than two thousand years ago when Jesus was born in Bethlehem Judea, the Wise Men brought gifts for Jesus: frankincense, gold, and myrrh. Perhaps this became an example and the main reason why people have the custom of GIVING and receiving gifts at Christmas. However, despite of the generosity showed by the Magi, the demonstration of true GIVING was performed at that very moment through Jesus’ birth in a humble manger. The birth of Jesus is considered the greatest gift of all that has ever been given to humankind.
Jesus is the gift, and the gift of Jesus is not a one-time gift, it’s a gift of eternity. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV) The birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus is just as powerful today as it was 2,000 years ago. He is still in His business of saving souls and GIVING each of us everlasting life. 1 John 5:11 says, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (NIV).
Ellen White wrote, “Christ had been sent to earth to represent God in character. Jesus was the Life-giver, the Teacher sent of God to provide salvation for a lost world, and to save men….” The Review and Herald, July 7, 1896.
God gave us the gift of Jesus, and Jesus GIVES us His life for us to have eternal life. Let us celebrate His life as the Greatest Gift of all and follow His example as a GREAT GIVER.
Hiskia Missah
Editor
