Ugly Wrapping Paper

Last Sunday as I was leading worship, God spoke to my heart about the power of a Christmas gift. We all know how Jesus came to us; in a cave: messy and damp and likely surrounded by sheep and dove poo. It was not the holiest of environments and yet, that is where He came. And I believe even then He was sending a message of how we can come to Him; unclean and messy. It’s the way that the shepherds came to him, too. They did not run home and freshen up once they received the news. No, they “went with haste” to the place the angel's had told Him.

In all of this, it’s just one picture of how God desires that we come to Him, not only did He provide the way, but He continued to remove the obstacles by showing us the perfect example of that approach; no pretense, no fanfare just simple humility, trust and total reliance.

The other thought He brought to mind was that of gifts. For some reason during this time of year, we have taken a very messy thing, and like the cross, we have done everything we can to pretty it up and sanitize it. We toss tinsel all over it, and light it up with sparkling lights and put bows on it. But I think that this was not the idea that He had when it came to gifts. The gift that God gave us in Christ, was hardly wrapped in the latest fad-grabbing paper and there was certainly no bow.

How about we do the same. There is one gift that He wants from us and that is the gift of our lives. But do not be dismayed. We don’t have to clean it up or put lights on it before we come to Him. The neat thing is that we can give ourselves to him wrapped in stuff that is not so pretty. We can come to the manger and the cross wrapped in our hurt, all-scarred up, with a bow of bitterness over our past, and the ribbon of regret tying it all up. And the cool thing is that He takes that beat up wrapping that we have around the gift of our heart and like a little child receiving a gift on Christmas morning, He rips into it with abandon and throws that wrapping away. He does not fold it neatly just in case we want to save it for some other time. No, He throws it away in the hopes that we will never ask for it in return. 

The gift of Christ and His desire to have a relationship with us is not reserved for Christmas morning. In this time between Christmas and New Years, I pray that you will strongly consider bringing Christ the gift of your life, with all the messed up wrapping, with all the trampled stuff you have been through and allow Him to unwrap it and reveal the you, you were always meant to be. The you He created you to be.

Revelation 5:21 – “Behold, I am making all things new!”