They say you can find anything on the Internet. One year, I was running a little late with my shopping, so I googled the phrase, “the perfect gift,” which yielded 5,850,000 results. That seemed a bit unwieldy, so I refined my search: “the perfect gift for your wife.” That trimmed the results down to a tidy 3,440,000. I didn’t have to look any farther than the Salsa lessons to realize that I was barking up the wrong tree.
A few years ago, I heard a preacher introduce his Christmas message with this question: “Show of hands: how many of you Dads are ‘guilty’ of buying your kids things they want for Christmas rather than things they need?” Apparently, his kids were small, and he tended to gravitate toward those toys and gadgets that would earn him the big “‘Atta boy, Dad!” But, for some reason, his inclination to thrill his kids with something impractical, made him feel guilty.
I did not raise my hand, but it was NOT because I only buy practical gifts. I did not raise my hand because I have never once felt “guilty” over buying impractical ones. I would feel much guiltier if all I could think of to give a child were socks and underwear, no matter how badly they were needed, if I knew something else might light up his or her eyes.
That is not to say that impractical gifts are better gifts than socks and underwear, but neither will I concede that they are lesser gifts. There simply is no such thing as a perfect gift, so we are each compelled to apply our best judgment to selecting various imperfect ones. A perfect gift would have to cover every conceivable criterion behind gift-giving. It would need to be practical AND thrilling. It would need to be extravagant AND precisely what is needed. We give our children the best gifts we can, because we know that there is no such thing as a perfect gift.
I stand corrected. There has been at least one “perfect” gift given in history, and that Gift is the reason we have Christmas.
A Perfect Gift Is Needed AND Wanted. Jesus, the Gift of God, fills a profound human need. Sin estranges a man from his holy Creator. Paul described people in their sinful state as “powerless,” as “enemies of God,” as “darkness” and as “objects of wrath.” Jesus appears within the pages of the Bible as the only remedy for sin. He bluntly declared as much about Himself. His disciples boldly proclaimed it as well. (see John 14:6; Acts 4:12)
Our need for Jesus is profound. Of course, just because a gift is needed, that is not to say it will be wanted. Still, after enough blisters and enough cold, wet days, a thick, warm pair of socks might become the most welcomed gift under any tree, especially if a man lacks the means to secure socks for himself. Likewise, a man needs to be awakened to His need for a Savior before he will yearn for one. There is nothing man can do to rescue himself from the throes of sin, but if he wallows in sin’s mire long enough and if he comes to the end of his own strength, then, the hunger awakened by God for the Gift will become acute. Jesus is every sinner’s greatest need, but He comes to those for whom He is also their greatest desire.
A Perfect Gift Thrills Recipient AND Giver. One cable network annually runs 24 straight hours of A Christmas Story. Ralphie Parker yearns for “an official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.” But, is that really a perfect gift? Ralphie’s mother, his school teacher and even the department store Santa Claus warn him, “You’ll shoot your eye out.” On the other hand, Ralphie is mortified when his mother compels him to model the pink rabbit outfit that quirky Aunt Clara has joyously hand-crafted. The air rifle awakens Ralphie's joy, but everyone else's concern. The bunny outfit has brought joy to the giver, but humiliation to the receiver. Neither the Red Ryder air rifle nor the pink bunny outfit quite hit the mark of perfection.
It seems to me that if any gift is to meet the criteria of “perfection”, then, there ought to be some sort of a mutual exhilaration shared by both giver and receiver. God's Gift hits that mark. We stand forgiven because of the Gift, and God was happy to give it.
A Perfect Gift Is Costly AND Free. It would sound crass to imply that a gift cannot be worthwhile unless it is expensive, but I have not been describing the realm of “worthwhile.” A perfect gift cannot be cheap and devoid of an element of sacrifice on the part of the giver. The free Gift of Jesus was the most precious thing the Father had to give. Jesus, in His essence, God, laid aside all the perks of deity so as to clothe Himself in human flesh. Ultimately, God Incarnate yielded to crucifixion, a kind of death penalty that only depraved minds could have conceived.
… For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. – 1 Peter 1:18, 19
A Perfect Gift Is Unique AND Universally Available. There are many items that make nice gifts even though they are mass-produced. Take one from the shelf, and twenty just like it are lined up behind it. But again, I am not exploring the realm of merely “nice.” A truly perfect gift must be one-of-a-kind. Jesus is “the only begotten” of the Father. No one else ever knew the mind of the Father or ever made the Father known to us, for He was of the same essence as the Father. Jesus is the only Way to salvation, because He is the only One Who CAN save us. And, yet, His love is indiscriminate. This precious, unique gift is for all who hunger and thirst for it.
A Perfect Gift Is Complete as Is AND Is Constantly Increasing. “The gift that keeps on giving” is a phrase that has been applied to everything from jewelry to financial endowments to anything that remains useful over time or that even increases in value over time. The Gift of God is such a gift. There is nothing lacking in what Jesus provided to redeem us back to our Father, and yet, the longer we serve Him, the more the benefits flow back to us: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
A Perfect Gift Is Indescribable. Paul was urging Christians in Corinth to respond generously to a need in Jerusalem where many Jewish believers had become impoverished. He appealed to the affluent Corinthians on a number of bases. He pointed to the generosity of the Macedonians, a people not nearly so well off as themselves. He taught of spiritual blessings that accompany generosity. But, the Apostle’s final appeal on the matter directed them to God’s generosity. Speaking of the grace that appeared in Jesus, the Gift of God, he wrote:
… Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! - 2 Corinthians 9:15
I cannot exhaust a discussion of the perfection and sufficiency of Jesus. I can only make my own meager case for it. In addition to all that I have said already, the gift is beautiful, glorious and majestic. But, when all of our linguistic superlatives inevitably fail to capture the beauty of Christ, let us settle on - and rest in the reality that the Gift of Jesus simply defies description.
