All Gifts Point to Christ

With Christmas just around the corner, most of us are deep in the whirlwind of holiday prep last-minute shopping, travel plans, gift-wrapping, and family logistics. It’s a beautiful season, but also an expensive and often overwhelming one. Americans are expected to spend around $1,000 on gifts this year, which leads many Christians to ask: Am I loving the Giver more than the gifts?

This question came from a podcast listener named James, and it's one worth pausing to reflect on. He asked, “How can we know that we love God for who He is not just for what He gives us?” Especially at Christmas, when so much of our joy revolves around receiving, how do we keep our hearts anchored in the Giver?

Love the Giver More Than the Gifts

To answer that, we need to recognize a foundational truth: there’s a massive difference between loving someone through the gifts they give and loving the gifts instead of them. Imagine proposing to your fiancée with a diamond ring, and she becomes obsessed with the jewelry showing it off, talking about it, admiring it but never looking you in the eye, never saying “yes” to you. That would be heartbreaking. The ring was meant to point to your love, not distract from it.

That’s how God feels when His gifts good health, family, success, even salvation become our ultimate focus instead of Him. His gifts are meant to lead us to Him, not replace Him.

The Bible makes this abundantly clear:

• “Christ also suffered once for sins... that He might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)

• “We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:11)

• “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.” (Psalm 73:25)

God’s gifts are great. But God Himself is greater. He is the treasure.

Remember: The Greatest Gift Is God Himself

Here’s a profound truth to help reframe our Christmas mindset: every good thing we enjoy as believers was purchased by the blood of Christ. That’s the logic of Romans 8:32:

“He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?”

In other words, every gift we enjoy every joy, every provision, every answered prayer flows from the cross. The Father didn’t just send gifts because of Christ; He sends gifts through Christ. That means every present we open this Christmas points to the greater Present: Jesus Himself.

And even more remarkably, Christ isn’t just the gift. He’s also the Giver.

The New Testament repeatedly says that Christ gave Himself:

• “The Son of Man came... to give His life.” (Mark 10:45)

• “[He] loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

• “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:25)

So when we open a gift this Christmas, we can train our hearts to think, “This gift is possible only because Christ gave Himself for me.” The wrapping paper, the shopping bags, the Amazon boxes they can all become reminders of the greater generosity of God. And when we give gifts to others, it’s a way of participating in that divine generosity.

How to Keep the Giver Central This Season

Here are a few practical ways to keep Christ at the center of your gift-giving and receiving:

• Pause with every gift. Whether you’re giving or getting, take a moment to silently thank God. Say, “Thank You, Jesus, for this and for all You’ve done to make it possible.”

• Talk about the “why” behind your gifts. When you give, let others know you’re doing it out of love because Christ first loved you (1 John 4:19).

• Let your gifts point to eternity. Not every present has to be a devotional book but think about how your generosity can reflect God’s heart and draw others toward Him.

• Remember that God’s greatest gift isn’t what He gives, but who He is. As Pastor John Piper says, “When real love binds two persons together, they don’t say, ‘Hey, where’s the gift?’ They say, ‘You are the gift.’”

This Christmas, let every gift remind you that Jesus didn’t just come to give you blessings. He came to give you Himself. And in Him, you already have everything you need.

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

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