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No Returns, Exchanges, or Regifting

Posted in Christianity, Christmas, Devotions, New Year, spirituality by

His Love Endures Forever

Psalm 136

You may choose to trade in that horrendous sweater your friend gave you. You may sell back all the consumer electronics you got so you can get an even bigger piece of consumer electronics. You may store that coffee mug on a shelf until next year, when you can use it for a white elephant party.

You can return, exchange, or regift a lot of the stuff you got, but that doesn’t work for the best gift you’ve received. It came without a gift receipt. You can’t buy it in a store. And even if you don’t want it, it’s not going anywhere. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t return, exchange or regift the Christ child, for three important reasons:

  1. NO EXCHANGES. Jesus can’t be traded in, because he is invaluable. You can’t put a price on unconditional love. Jesus is the best gift you’ll ever receive and there’s nothing out there that can match his value. Whether or not you appreciate this gift is entirely up to you. But there’s simply nothing out there that can compare with the love of Christ.
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  2. NO RETURNS. Jesus can’t be refunded, because he is forever. You can’t treat Jesus like a commodity, something you can part with easily. No, even if you just stuff him in your closet and forget about him, he’s not going anywhere. This is a forever gift, given to you by name.
  3. NO REGIFTING. Jesus can’t be regifted, because everybody’s already got him. There are many who don’t know it, or don’t have the words or faith to understand it, but this gift was under every tree this year. Even the folks who didn’t have a tree and didn’t open presents received this gift. Instead of trying to regift Jesus, why not let people know what you’ve received, and remind them that they’ve received him too?

Jesus is never going out of style. Jesus is one-size-fits-all. Jesus is a cause for excited celebration–not just on December 25th, but on January 5th or May 19th. Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving, if you keep him front and center in your life.

So don’t pack him up with all the rest of the decorations. Don’t hope for something better–such a thing doesn’t exist. Don’t deny yourself the ultimate gift given by God, the ultimate giver.

You’ve heard the phrase, “All Sales Are Final”? This is similar, in that “All Grace Is Final”. Or, as I like to put it:

“Zero more shopping days until Love.”

Happy New Year,

Mitch