Ray Ellis, of Cornerstone Community Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, once preached a message about Christmas titled The Gifts Jesus Gives at Christmas. In it, he tells a wonderful story illustrating why God did what He did in clothing Himself in human form that first Christmas…
Several years ago a mother in Anderson, South Carolina, was very busy on Christmas Eve, wrapping packages and preparing to take her family to a Christmas Eve service that evening. Suddenly she realized that the shoes she planned to wear were scuffed up and badly needed a shine.
She said to her eight-year-old son, who was bubbling with excited energy, “Would you take an old newspaper out on the back porch and try to shine my shoes without making a mess?”
Every child is eager to please on Christmas Eve, so off he went. In a little while he brought the shoes back nicely shined. The mother was so impressed that she reached into her pocketbook and gave him a quarter along with a hug and a thank-you. Later that evening when she was getting dressed, she started to put on a shoe but realized that something was inside it.
She reached in and found a quarter wrapped in a piece of notebook paper. On the paper, written in a childish scrawl, was this message: “I done it for love.”
Why did God do what He did at Christmas? The answer is clear. As the most quoted verse in the Bible, John 3:16, tells us: “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” In other words, Praise God, He done it for love!
Several years ago a mother in Anderson, South Carolina, was very busy on Christmas Eve, wrapping packages and preparing to take her family to a Christmas Eve service that evening. Suddenly she realized that the shoes she planned to wear were scuffed up and badly needed a shine.
She said to her eight-year-old son, who was bubbling with excited energy, “Would you take an old newspaper out on the back porch and try to shine my shoes without making a mess?”
Every child is eager to please on Christmas Eve, so off he went. In a little while he brought the shoes back nicely shined. The mother was so impressed that she reached into her pocketbook and gave him a quarter along with a hug and a thank-you. Later that evening when she was getting dressed, she started to put on a shoe but realized that something was inside it.
She reached in and found a quarter wrapped in a piece of notebook paper. On the paper, written in a childish scrawl, was this message: “I done it for love.”
Why did God do what He did at Christmas? The answer is clear. As the most quoted verse in the Bible, John 3:16, tells us: “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” In other words, Praise God, He done it for love!