Some say Christmas has lost its true meaning, with too much emphasis on giving and receiving gifts.
Are presents just a marketing strategy to spend more during the holidays? Or is there a deeper, Biblical significance behind the tradition of gift-giving? Read how Billy Graham once explained God’s ultimate gift to us.
Read more Signs of Christmas
Week 1: Why do we decorate with lights?
Week 2: Why do we top trees with a star?
Week 3: Are angels really in the Christmas story?
Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
—Matthew 2:11, ESV
“Christmas” begins with Christ—the virgin-born Christ-child, our Savior. The Babe of Bethlehem was not merely a remarkable child, but the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born into this world in the form of a man.
Jesus Christ offered Himself as a free gift for each of us. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, KJV).
God’s gift to the world was despised and rejected over 2,000 years ago and in the life of every person who has rejected Him since that time there has proved to be a fatal defectiveness. Only by receiving God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ can we know forgiveness of sin and life everlasting—the true meaning of Christmas.
Billy Graham’s Prayer
“Lord Jesus, as I remember Your birth in such a lowly stable, cleanse my heart that it might be a sanctified gift for You.”
Read more from Billy Graham about where the idea of giving gifts came from.
