God’s mark: Gift giving (November 2025)
As the calendar turns to November, many people begin to turn their minds to December: the month in
which Christmas is celebrated.
This year, 2025, the season of Advent (which many Christians observe in anticipation of the celebration
of Jesus’ birth as a baby, as one of us) actually begins in November — on the last Sunday — November
30th.
The theme for Advent this year is “The gifts of Christmas”. We will focus on the gifts of Christmas:
hope, peace, joy, love — and the greatest gift of all — Jesus.
Our modern observation of Christmas is often marked by giving and receiving gifts. This leads many
people in the weeks or months prior to Christmas to prepare the gifts: either by making or buying specific
gifts for specific people.
It is good for us to discover that rather than a specific “thing” or “package”, God shows us that gift-giving
is at the heart of who God is, and how God reveals who He is:
The Old Testament tells us that the gift of life itself is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 3:13 says: “That
everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his work — this is the gift of God.”
The New Testament tells us that our lives, marked by sin, earn us death, but God gives us life. Romans 6:
23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NIV)
How do we know God? How do we learn how God relates to us? God shows us: through the gifts He
gives to us.
Our life — including our food and drink, and our work — are all gifts, designed by God to bring us
satisfaction, which in part is another work for joy.
Eternal life — beginning in our being “born again” through faith in Jesus Christ, and with the promise
that it is forever — is God’s greatest gift, offered freely to all who will receive.
The marks of eternal life are hope, peace, joy, and love. Our sure and certain hope is revealed in the
resurrection of Jesus from the death and the promise of His return. God’s peace surpasses and transcends
our understanding. The joy of the Lord is our strength. God’s love never fails. Faith, hope, and love
remain, and the greatest of these is love. These are the gifts of God.
As we begin our preparations for Christmas, let us reflect on the nature of gift-giving,
and our God Who
gives. May the gifts we prepare to share with others reflect and embody God’s gifts to us.
Your pastor, grateful to receive what God gives, and to give what God provides: hope, peace, joy, love,
and Jesus — the life!
James T. Hurd
