Our lives are a gift; we were made by a loving Creator. Going all the way back in history, people knew that there are things in life that are more important than our most prized possession, and need to be gifted.We owe our Creator that recognition!
For a man named Abel, only the finest lamb in his flock was worthy to be offered in obedience to God. His brother, however had different priorities. and following instructions was not one of them. His reaction to God's willingness to give him another opportunity to do it right was to make it worse:he, in effect, sacrificed his brother and his relationship with his family in his insistence on having his own way. Our own way doesn't usually work well.
All through Scripture, we see that a relationship with God was always associated with offerings--the best of what they had. But this was a constant thing; the offerings always needed to be repeated because the relationship was always endangered. And God promised from the beginning that there would be a better way.
We are celebrating God's gift--that He Himself would supply the perfect offering on our behalf--it came as His Son, as a human baby. From before His birth, it was promised that He would be the One to save His people from their sins. On the baby's traditional presentation in God's Temple, a wise man of God gave thanks that he was allowed to see the one who would be God's salvation, at the cost of great suffering. This baby--the one pictured on a zillion Christmas cards--grew up to be a Man like all of us, but also unlike anyone who had ever lived on earth. He told truth about God, told stories that gave us demonstrations of what God is like, and lived a life that we are called to imitate, with His help. And then the priests, in a week that saw the sacrificing of thousands of lambs, were the ones forcing the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb, the only perfect living being on the face of the planet. And as He died, He pronounced the end of the imperfect sacrificial system: "It is Finished." The system survived for a little while, but within a generation, the same social and political movements that led to this Sacrifice led to the sacrifice of the Temple itself and the end of the whole sacrificial system. But it didn't end the results of the sacrifice--it was a once and for all permanent atonement for all who will give themselves to following the Lamb.
The lesson is still the same: we are not our own property. We were made by a Maker; our "stuff" and our own way are not good enough. We can have a different life here; and we can have a life forever in the presence of our Creator, if we accept the relationship we are offered through the Greatest Gift ever given.
And we sing in celebration: "A long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible say; Mary's boy-child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day. Hark now hear the angels sing: A new King's born today, Man will live forever more because of Christmas Day!"*
*(Written by Jester Hairston, 1956)
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