The WORD and His Gifts

The WORD and His Gifts

In the beginning before our world existed was the WORD. The WORD was I AM, because He’s always been, always is, and always will be. He used the power of His WORD to speak into the void, and He created everything in the world we live in today. After He created, He dwelt among us until we rejected Him. We cast Him out and because He, not we, has all authority, He moved us out of Eden, out of the fullness of the goodness of His created order. We chose chaos over Him.

But before He chose to create, He knew our choice, and He had a plan. His plan came in the form of the Creator becoming the created and His presence in the world as a God-babe. Because He is the WORD, He writes the most perfect of stories, and He gave several foreshadows and hints of the way He would send Himself back into the world that needed Him. He had a chosen people, a people just as imperfect and as unholy as the first He created, but He chose them as in every choice He made – to give grace.

He prepared the way of the God-babe by blessing Elizabeth and Zechariah with John. At the same time, Mary was filled with the Spirit of God and became pregnant not by man but by the WORD. This happened while she was still engaged. Though a child, she simply said, “May your WORD to me be fulfilled.” And so it was.

The WORD took on a body and became a baby born a lowly birth – the greatest of all beings encased in a fleshly vessel. The first gift He received was meager – the place in the stable among the animals to be birthed. The only accolades He received that night were from the other parts of Himself, a special star placed in the night sky, the star of Bethlehem, and the songs of angels to the shepherds. The next gift He received was the praise of the shepherds who came to visit.

Eight days later, He received the next gift: a WORD of prophecy and praise from Simeon in the temple. At the same time, Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her soul. Did you know that swords are synonymous with words in the Bible for slanderous tongues or the WORD of God? She experienced the piercing of both.

The next gift was the praise of Anna, who used her words to tell all she saw in the temple of the newborn babe and King.

The greatest man who’d ever been or will be had been born that night long ago, but none of the world’s powers knew that all authority and power and dominion had entered. However, great men who had been waiting and watching for His arrival recognized that Greatness and Power had come to earth. They followed the star to Bethlehem to see the ever growing child, and more gifts were given: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. One for each of the Trinity. As far as we know that was the last time He received royal gifts.

He was a very unique child and being the WORD’s mama and dad was not an easy thing. {Can you imagine raising a kid who had more wisdom than you? and understood spiritual signs faster than you could read them?} The God-child liked to disappear into the temple to teach the WORD. Then, Joseph mysteriously disappeared, and Jesus took on the role of caregiver to Mary and his siblings. During this time, it seems that they lost sight of who He was. Perhaps the words of the wicked had gotten to Mary, and she’d grown calloused and aged in her belief. Perhaps, she just couldn’t understand why He didn’t use His power more often as was the case at home. After all, it was Mary that sent for Him to turn the water into wine. Being the WORD and I AM, He was used to the rejection, but His heart ached greatly.

He could not let it stop Him from being who He was intended to be and in a sense, it spurred Him to action. Then He started His ministry. And many followed Him, and the twelve disciples were the next gifts He received. He preached the WORD, was convicted and crucified, but death could not hold Him down, and He rose! Mary and his brothers among the first to truly believe.

The WORD spread like a wildfire, and He received the gift of many more people coming to salvation, because it is in fact the offering of our hearts fully devoted to Him that are the greatest gifts He’s ever received. All else is His already. Will you be the next gift He receives at Christmas time this year? May His WORD dwell richly in you!