Can you believe that Christmas was already three months ago? As a teacher, it’s fun to receive Christmas gifts from your students. They walk into the classroom beaming with pride with their perfectly wrapped and well thought out presents that are just for you.

By now, the gift card to your favorite coffee shop has probably run out. The cute houseplant you had high hopes for may have already died. The festive mugs have most likely been shoved to the back of the shelf that has been deemed the “cute teacher mug shelf”.

Until next year, teacher gifts!

Have you ever done the same thing with Baby Jesus? Maybe you’ve “spent” all your Christmas joy and it’s long run out.  Perhaps you’re waiting until next December to deeply ponder again the precious gift that was given to you at the manger.

This passage in Romans gives us a pretty incredible reason to not leave Christmas in December. Paul reminds us that our sinful nature has made us “powerless” when it comes to our salvation. Conversely, he states “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” So how then do we gain access to eternal life?

The answer is baby Jesus in the manger. What we couldn’t do “God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.”

This time of year can feel like a grind. Just maybe you have been too busy striving and hustling since school started back in January that you haven’t taken a moment to remember the one gift that hasn’t run out- your Savior.

The devil can tempt us to think that our striving will carry us to our worth, our redemption, our freedom. Of course, our work is not in vain. It matters. It brings glory to God. And yet, but when it comes to salvation, the most important work has already been done.

The good news of Christmas changes our day-to-day life even when it’s not “the most wonderful time of the year.” We needed a Savior and God sent us one. Not any old gift, but a perfectly wrapped and well thought out present that is specifically for you.

Don’t wait until next December, brothers and sisters. Let the gift of a Savior live in every day of the rest of your life. Be filled with glad tidings of joy that the Christ child has set us “free from the law of sin and death.” This gift is for you today and always.