No Lump of Coal for You
Dearly beloved of God, Christmas is coming and presents, presents, presents. You see dearly beloved; our Heavenly Father only gives every good and every perfect gift. He is “the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” He only gives good gifts, and He has something for everyone.
For those who are not yet a child of God, God has the gift of everlasting life for you. “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” One size fits all. There are no exchanges with this gift. This gift also comes with accessories.
“Then Peter said unto them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of [from] the Holy Spirit.”
This gift comes with forgiveness and the gift from the Holy Spirit, the spirit of sonship which makes us the children of God and seals us for everlasting life.
Our Father is not a scrooge; He gives such as He has to give. He gives of the riches of His grace!
“In Whom [Jesus Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” That’s a lot of forgiveness!
He gives so much forgiveness that, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” None, nada, zilch!
We are justified by the Lord Jesus Christ and we now stand before our Heavenly Father clothed in Christ’s righteousness without any sense of sin, guilt, or condemnation!
The gift of holy spirit we received from Him is the like same gift of holy spirit that the 12 received on the Day of Pentecost and the Judeans received thereafter, and the Gentiles first received at Cornelius’s house.
“You are not in the flesh but in the spirit, since the spirit from God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the spirit, that is to say, Christ, then he does not belong to him, but since Christ dwells in you, then the body [the old nature] is indeed dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of justness. If the spirit from Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies /because of {Or/ by} His spirit dwelling in you.” Romans 8:9-11 WT. Wowzer!
For the sick, our Heavenly Father gives healing by the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the wood post so that being removed from the sins we might live by justness, [Isaiah 53:5]: “by whose stripes you were healed.” WT
He even gives us the ability to minister “the gifts of healings” to the sick. It’s a gift that just keeps on giving.
But wait, there's more! “He Who did not even spare His own Son but delivered him up on behalf of all of us, how will He not also freely give us all things with him?” WT
The Father freely gives us all things with Christ! WOW! In Christ, we are called, justified, and glorified. Christ Jesus was made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption!
Rejoice forevermore! We will be glorified with Christ! Even though this will occur in the future, He speaks of it in the past tense to express how certain it is!
In the future ages there are many more good things to come, dearly beloved, and there are many more surprises our Father has in store for us. He will display in Christ Jesus, the exceeding riches of His grace to us in His loving kindness and tender mercies. He is the Giver; He loves to give!
Presents, presents, and more presents; every good and perfect gift from the Father of lights and He freely gives all of them to us with Christ!