What is the best gift I can give this Christmas 2008?

Father Mark Musamu, Lusaka, Zambia

Hello friends.  Greetings in the Name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  As we are approaching Christmas, everyone is thinking of giving the best gift.  But what is the best gift I can give?  To answer this question, perhaps it is good to start with a “first things first” approach.  This approach will help us not to miss anything but to put our house in order.

In the book of Matthew 7:1-5, the Bible tells me to first take the splinter that is in my own eye before I take that which is in my brother’s eye.  So, the best gift I can give is MYSELF.  Let the Lord be born in my heart this Christmas. 

I must be honest to myself and to the Lord.  If I am to grow spiritually with a goal to meet the Lord Jesus here on earth, then I must give myself to Him and to His will.

HOW???  He is the only One who can restore me.  So, I must meet Him and confess my sins through the guidance of His servants, the priests here on earth.  Proverbs 28:13 says that “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”  I must give up my sins and thereby giving myself to Christ.  THIS IS THE BEST GIFT I CAN GIVE THIS CHRISTMAS.  Therefore, this is perfection in gift-giving.  Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:48, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”