Next week, my wife, Peggy, and I will be traveling to spend Christmas with our children and grandchildren. We’re already looking forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior with our family. We love the looks of joyful anticipation on the faces of our grandkids on Christmas morning. Yes, there will be gifts!
But our earthly gift-giving is merely a shadow of the ultimate gift that we should celebrate throughout the year. Jesus Christ came to earth in the form of a helpless newborn babe in order to give us the ultimate gift of salvation and fellowship with Him.
Our brothers and sisters in hostile and restricted nations celebrate this gift, too, and as I unwrap presents and sit down for a wonderful meal I’ll also be thinking of those who suffer for receiving the same gift that we are celebrating. I look forward to opportunities to share with my grandchildren the stories of some of those I’ve met this year who sacrificed so much to accept and to give to others the gift of Jesus.
I will also remember—as I do every day—those who give to support VOM’s work of standing with these precious brothers and sisters. Thousands of people across the United States contribute sacrificially so that we can deliver Bibles to Christians in Egypt, provide prosthetic limbs to victims of Islamist attacks in Nigeria, buy a motorcycle for a traveling evangelist in Vietnam and stand with our persecuted family in many other ways. Thank you!
My prayer for you is that the Christ of Christmas—Emmanuel, God with us!—will minister to you in a deep and personal way as we celebrate the ultimate gift, Who came to us wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
Merry Christmas!
Jim
Jim Dau has served with The Voice of the Martyrs since 1999, and was named President in 2006.
Photo credit: Christmas by Staphane Mignon via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.
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