John 1:16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

This verse is true of every human being on the face of the earth, but far too few recognize it, and none of us appreciate it enough. We give gifts at Christmas time for any number of reasons, but Christmas itself is a celebration of the greatest gift ever given, a gift so incredibly huge that we can hardly get our minds around it. The Creator of the universe gave Himself, in the Person of His Son, for the sake of His creatures, us. That violates all human logic, yet it is the message of the entire New Testament, amply prophesied and attested to in the Old Testament. That was on top of His having given us existence, life itself, and the capacity to appreciate and enjoy it. There was nothing that said He had to do any of that, yet He did. When we fail to recognize that we fall into ingratitude, and that is a deep hole indeed. It is a simple but profound truth that a grateful heart is a happy heart, and an ungrateful one is unhappy. God genuinely wants us to be happy, so He tries to foster gratitude in various ways, but all too often we stubbornly refuse it. How foolish! We will never see the overflowing abundance of God’s gracious provision until we are properly grateful for what we have already received.

I am certainly a case study here. Thankfully I was raised to be thankful and to express it. We didn’t “do Santa” because we were taught that everything came from somewhere, and we were to express thanks to the source. Presents came from people, and we were to thank them, and everything else came from God, and we were to thank Him. Looking back over my life, it’s easy for me to see that the times when I was least happy were times I had the least gratitude to God and to His instruments. However, for the most part my life has been happy indeed, precisely because I was taught the principle in this verse. I have had a person who is active in a non-Christian religion bring his friends to meet me because he wanted them to “meet someone who really enjoys living!” The sad thing, though, is that he hasn’t investigated my secret any further for himself, and so remains apart from Christ. I am to be careful to let people know why I am happy, and to assure them that the same grace I have received is available to them, if they will only repent and believe to accept it.

Father, thank You yet again for Your incredible grace toward me. Thank You for the day yesterday, and for getting us through the very full schedule. Thank You for the good service, with baptism, in the morning, and that the caroling at the nursing home in the afternoon went well. Thank You for all the opportunities You give us to share Your grace with those around us. I ask for Your anointing on the caroling this evening, as well as on the Eve service tomorrow, that many hearts would be touched and drawn to believe and receive Your grace, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!