-> Will you help us Open a World of Opportunity?    
 Home > Articles > Special Features > "Buy Your Own Gifts!"   
Buy Your Own Gifts!Buy Your Own Gifts!
by Alan Smith
Print This Article   Send it to a Friend

 
I heard recently about a 90-year-old lady who one Christmas found buying presents a bit much, so she wrote out checks for all of her family and friends, and decided she would put them in with her Christmas cards. She wrote out her Christmas cards and put "Buy your own present" after her name, then sent them off.

But after the Christmas festivities were over, she found the checks in her desk! Everyone had got a Christmas card from her with "Buy your own present" written inside, but without the checks!

Our gift list is always so limited.
We all like gifts. We like to receive them from those that we love. And we also enjoy giving them. What Jesus said is certainly true: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). I used to think that the greatest joy of Christmas belonged to children because they get to experience the excitement of opening their presents. But I've learned that the real excitement of Christmas comes in being able to give to those who mean so much to you.

Unfortunately, our gift list is always so limited. If you're like me at this time of the year, you always have a lot of people you would like to get something special, but you just don't have the money. We can't give to everyone. But, God can, God has, and God does! There's no one who's been left off of his gift list.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17 NKJV)

This Christmas, enjoy giving gifts and enjoy receiving them. But be especially thankful for the greatest gift of all that came to this earth in the form of a baby in a stable in the little town of Bethlehem, and be sure that you respond by receiving that gift through obedient faith.

 
Share Related
Print This ArticlePrint this Article

Send it to a FriendSend it to a Friend

Heartlight encourages you to share this material with others in church bulletins, personal emails and other non-commercial uses. Please see our Usage Guidelines for more information.
Search

      © 2006 Alan Smith. Used by permission. This devotional was reprinted from Thought for the Day.

      Title: "Buy Your Own Gifts!"
      Author: Alan Smith
      Publication Date: December 19, 2006

 
Special Features
 
 
Hundreds more articles
like this are in the
ARTICLE ARCHIVE
...or search to find an article by keywords:

  Visit our Sponsors

Heartlight only exists because of your support! Click above to visit a sponsor, or donate to join us in our ministry.

   
May we suggest...
WOW Hits 2006
by Various Artists
WOW Hits 2006They're here---all the chart-topping radio hits by your favorite Christian artists! Two CD boxed set.

  Find More Books & Music:
Christianbook.com
Alan Smith Alan Smith ministers with the Church of Christ in White House, Tennessee and publishes the email devotional "Thought for the Day."

RSS Feed of All Heartlight ArticlesAll Heartlight Articles

'Special Features' RSS FeedSpecial Features

RSS Feed of Alan Smith's ArticlesAuthor Alan Smith

More Heartlight Feeds

Subscribe
Get Heartlight articles and devotionals by email FREE every day!
Daily Heartlight
Today's Verse
What Jesus Did!
Quotemeal

More Information

 

 

RSS Feeds  |  Advertising  |  Support Heartlight   |   Help  |  Contact Us  
HOME     topTOP HEARTLIGHT® Magazine is produced by Heartlight, Inc. HEARTLIGHT is a registered service mark of Heartlight, Inc. PO Box 7044, Abilene, TX, USA 79608-7044. Copyright © 1996-2009. Heartlight is supported by Westover Hills Church, Southern Hills Church, and loving Christians from around the world. Scripture quotations are taken from the Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. Used by permission. All rights reserved.