The Everyday Gospel Christmas DevotionalSample

God’s generosity culminates in the gift of his Son, Jesus.

The Bible records the best generosity story that has ever been penned in human language. God is the great giver of good things, and the biblical narrative records his generosity over and over again. The creation account shows us his generosity as he places Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden where they have everything they need. In generosity, right after the entrance of sin into the world, God promises to fix what sin has broken. God generously makes his covenant with Abraham, through whom all the nations on earth will be blessed. He is generous in delivering his people out of slavery and giving them his law, so that they will thrive. He generously provides manna for them in the wilderness when they aren’t able to provide for themselves. He generously provides the promised land so they can grow and thrive as a nation. In generosity, he chooses to dwell with them in the tabernacle; his presence is always with them. In the face of their rebellion, God generously sends prophet after prophet to warn his people and call them back to him.

If you pay attention as you read your Bible, you will see that the generosity of the King of kings is without end. One particular verse captures God’s generosity and its final culmination. This verse may be the most famous and well-known of all Bible verses: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

I am convinced that this passage not only points us to the ultimate gift of gifts, Jesus, but it also summarizes the redemptive story up until this point. We can summarize the redemptive story with these nine words: “For God so loved the world that he gave.”

The entire biblical story is about a God who gives his creatures what they do not know they need, what they often do not want, and what they could never earn or do for themselves—but which they cannot live without. As we read the Bible, it becomes clear that nothing can keep God from giving. Even in the face of his people’s rebellion and idolatry, he continues to give. His generosity is inexhaustible and without limit.

God’s generosity reached its crescendo with the gift of Jesus. Every gift he had given pointed to this final gift. In this gift, we get forgiveness, reconciliation, and the transformation of our hearts. In all of God’s giving, there is no gift like Jesus.

God is still showering down his generosity on you. He blesses you every day with his presence, promises, power, and grace. He gives to you through his word and his church. Your life—right here, right now, and into the future—rests on God’s willingness to keep on giving. It is an amazing grace that we are the objects of such unending generosity.

Prayer:

My God, I thank you for the richness of your generosity to your people! I have done nothing to deserve such a benevolent Lord and King! You bless me in so many ways, each and every day. You delight me with your presence. You move me with your power. You shower me with your grace. I extol your name for the supreme gift of Jesus, your Son, who will be mine forever because of his unbreakable commitment to me. I thank you in his name, amen.