“And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
(1 Peter 2:6, NASB)
I grew up in a home with three brothers, three sisters, and a mom and dad, for a total of nine (with one bathroom!). We didn’t have much in the way of material possessions, but Christmas was always, somehow, a time of an unbelievable number of gifts under the tree. Mom and Dad gift wrapped our yearly new socks, underwear, and PJs, as well as a toy or two. As we matured each one of us earned money from jobs and at Christmas everyone bought everyone else a gift or two. With somewhere between one hundred and two hundred gifts under our tree, they spread out covering much of the floor.
I can remember one year, the night before Christmas, looking at ALL those gifts and fantasizing about ALL that I would be receiving the next morning. But, to my surprise, what a disappointment that morning was to me! It seemed like most of the gifts went to my brothers and sisters. Only about one out of every nine was handed out to me, and some of those were socks and underwear! From my adolescent perspective it seemed like I really didn’t get much, and the prior anticipation was drowned by the reality of what I received. At that moment it was a disappointing Christmas.
Earthly gifts break, become irrelevant, stop satisfying, and run out of batteries! But the true Christmas gift, the gift of Jesus Christ, is a gift that will never disappoint. Peter, quoting from Isaiah 28:16, declares that “he who believes in Him will not be disappointed” (1 Peter 2:6). Christ never disappoints; He never causes shame or disillusionment; He never ceases to be effective as the gift that takes away our sin. The gift of Jesus Christ, who first made His appearance on what we call Christmas Day, is a gift, that when received by faith, is found to be precious, satisfying, the very source of joy and gratitude. He is the One who exceeds all our expectations. Rejoice this Christmas for the best gift of all, our Lord Jesus Christ.