I looked down and saw a small, chubby hand reaching out to me with a paper poinsettia. He had attached a sparkly green pipe cleaner on the back side to make the flower into a ring. “This is for you.”
It was my first time to volunteer at the school where my son was teaching, and I had never met the little boy before. “Are you sure that you want me to have it?” I asked. He grinned and nodded.
“Thank you so much! It’s beautiful,” I said as I placed the ring on my finger.
My heart was touched. I had no relationship with this little boy who had come to class ready to offer me his sweet gift. I had shown him no affection or done anything to deserve this act of love.
At the end of the day, I got to talk with this little boy and get to know him better as he waited for his dad to pick him up after school. He was precious.
My son’s school was over 1000 miles from home, but I was able to go back to volunteer for a week each semester until my son took a position at a different school. Each time I went, my little friend was waiting anxiously to see me again. He will always have a special place in my heart.
His gesture reminds me of God’s unconditional love for me as well. Even before I had a relationship with God, He was reaching out to me with a beautiful gift He had prepared. Before I was even born, He had this grand plan to send His Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for me.
I had shown God no affection or done anything to deserve this act of love. Yet, He was ready to offer me this amazing gift and initiate a relationship with me.
You see, God is my Creator. He created absolutely everything, including the human race. He is pure and holy, and He created us in His image.
God had a wonderful relationship with the first man and woman He created until the perfectly made couple disobeyed God’s command. At that point, their relationship was broken.
Since God is pure and holy, the man, the woman and all future generations were separated from God because of their sin. But, “God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
So, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus became “God in the flesh” when He came down from heaven to be born of a virgin.
Jesus spent His life teaching about what it means to be a part of the Kingdom of God. He also performed many miracles that only God could do. However, His greatest purpose in coming to earth was to sacrifice His life to pay the price for our sin.
God has won my heart and blessed me with an intimate relationship with Him through Jesus. He loves you as well. If you do not have a relationship with Him but recognize the gift that He is offering to you, accept His overwhelming gift of love. He’s reaching out and waiting for you.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).