Some of the sweetest gifts I have ever received have not been some extravagant, expensive thing.  Rather a hand made card from one of my children with, I Love You Mommy, signed at the bottom.  The most precious gifts are determined not by what went into them, but by who they are from.

 

Zechariah understood that.  We hear it in his prophetic song as he praised God for giving him and his wife Elizabeth their son John when they were well past childbearing years.  Zechariah rejoiced because John was to be a prophet who would proclaim God's greatest gift to all people-the coming Messiah: "Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us."  (Luke 1:78)  Those words point to a gift given with so much love that it will even "shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death." (Luke 1:79)

 

The sweetest gift we can receive is God's tender mercy- the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus.  That gift cost Him dearly at the cross, but He offers it freely out of His deep love for us.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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