CONNECTING POINT: Grace, Not Gifts

The American Christmas tradition has become focused on gifts, especially a consumer-driven mentality that can end up misguided and self-centered. I’m not opposed to gift giving; our family shares in this tradition; however, we taught our children early on that Christ is the reason for the season.

The single most important gift we can ever receive is salvation through Jesus Christ, God’s unmerited favor given to anyone who calls on the name of Jesus to be saved. Such a gift is understood as grace. For some time, I’ve been digging deeper into Luke’s writings in the Bible and recently came across...