Most likely you’ve heard the phrase, “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.” It was first coined in the 1920s and promoted radios. The whole slogan read, “You will recognize them as the gift that keeps on giving.”

Fast-forward a hundred years, and I doubt if those radios are still “giving.” Every earthly thing eventually wears out, becomes obsolete, or goes out of style. At Christmas, we celebrate the only gift that truly keeps on giving—the undeserved and unconditional love of God, who sent his Son to earth to bear our sins and take them to the cross assuring us of eternal life.

In return, I want to give him a life lived in gratitude, but what do I mostly give him instead? I pathetically give him my failures, my weaknesses, and my sorrows all wrapped up into one neat and unattractive package. Now that’s a gift I bet you didn’t have on your wish list this year! But that very gift is on God’s wish list, and he wants us to give it to him. When we do, we receive his pardon, strength, and joy all wrapped up in the love of our Savior Jesus Christ—the gift that keeps on giving . . . and giving . . . and giving!

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).