It's Christmas, Let's Not Forget to Give Jesus a Birthday Gift
Christmas is Jesus’s birthday. We know that. But in the frenetic pace of the holiday season, we often lose sight of that truth. While my family is busily making and buying gifts for one another, our friends, and our neighbors, we could easily skate through December without preparing a gift for the birthday boy himself. May it not be so.
If there’s just one thing we accomplish this month, let it be giving Jesus a birthday gift—it’s his day, after all.
How about having a birthday party for Jesus? Bake a cake, light a candle, and sing Happy Birthday, as you thank him for leaving heaven and coming to Earth for our sake. Or how about honoring him with one of these ideas?
- Have your children save their money over the next couple weeks and put it in front of your manger scene. As the coins and bills pile up, ask the Lord to show your family who he has in mind to receive it.
- Decide as a family to forego a few gifts or a big ticket item and instead give the money to the least of these (maybe Compassion International, a local food bank, or something similar?).
- Give a gift to children whose parent(s) are in prison through Angel Tree.
- Send a box or a financial gift to a missionary family (a financial gift to their mission agency may be best, if you’re unsure of the postal service in their country).
- Prepare gallon-size ziplock bags of snacks, hand warmers, and bus tokens and give them to homeless men and women (my friend who works at the Denver Rescue Mission suggests including information on how to get to the nearest Rescue Mission and information on their holiday meals and ongoing programs).
- Offer your time to others—look around your neighborhood for those who need help shoveling, raking leaves, or walking dogs. Who can you serve? What do they need? Or encourage your young children to offer their time and acts of service to one another.
- Memorize scripture together—Jesus would be honored if you committed his words to your heart for his birthday.
Remembering that Christmas is in fact Jesus’s birthday is a posture of the heart. It’s an ongoing renewing of our minds, as we seek to honor him above ourselves.
In this often self-seeking and gluttonous month, with John the Baptist let’s say, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). And with the angels, let’s say “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14) and bring him some very good gifts.
For further reading, this book by Noel Piper is excellent.