During the Christmas season, much of our time, effort, and money are expended on gifts—gift buying, gift wrapping, gift-giving, gift-receiving, gift opening, etc. And if we have a Christian background, we make sure to fit Jesus in there somewhere among all the gifts and gift-related activity. I would like to take some time now to recognize Jesus and unwrap the gift He has given us. May God clearly show each of us where we are in unpackaging His gift.

My focus on Jesus and His gift was heightened recently when, in the last few months, so many people I know have been affected by COVID and other serious illnesses. When something unfortunate happens in my life, my mind immediately goes to the worst-case scenario. I figure if I can live with the most terrible thing I can imagine, and if something better happens, it is a win. So, when my husband got COVID and ended up in the hospital, the worst case I could imagine was that he would die. I came to the conclusion that even if that happened, he would go to Heaven and that God would take care of me. So, even though such a thing would be completely undesirable, this realization protected me from unnecessary worry.

But then I got to thinking about the others I knew who were suffering from severe illnesses. I wasn’t so sure they would go to Heaven if they passed away. Not knowing their eternal destinations keeps me up at night. Now, probably, if I were to share my concerns with others who knew these same people, they would attempt to assure me that their future in Heaven was secure because they are such great people and do so many wonderful things.

But being a good person is not what gets anyone into Heaven. In fact, when Jesus was on Earth, He said, “‘Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven’” (Matthew 5:20, emphasis mine). The scribes and Pharisees of that day were the most righteous people anyone knew. They memorized the first five books of the Bible. They fasted twice a week, and they gave away ten percent of everything they owned down to the spices in their spice cabinets. I am pretty sure none of us are that good!

It is not our righteousness that will fling the door of Heaven open wide for us; it is Jesus’ righteousness. The Bible says, “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God’s righteousness is the only righteousness that is greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees. This righteousness is the gift that God is holding out to us—the gift that Jesus bought for us.

How do we take this gift, open it, and use it? Contrary to what some may believe, receiving this gift requires more than saying a special prayer and/or being baptized. I am not saying these things are wrong. They could be the beginning of a whole new life in Christ—but they also could be no more meaningful than repeating a nursery rhyme or taking a dip in a pool. There is no magic prayer that gives us a free ticket into Heaven nor buys us our spiritual fire insurance. There is no special water that transfers us from spiritual death to spiritual life.

What is necessary is a gift exchange. The Bible states, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Elsewhere, it says we are clothed in filthy garments. There God demands, “‘Take off [your] filthy clothes!” … ‘See, I have removed your iniquity [wickedness], and I will clothe you with splendid robes’” (Zechariah 3:4). Isaiah praised God, “‘My soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness’” (Isaiah 61:10, emphasis mine). Over and over again in Scripture, we see this image of “[putting] off [our] former way of life, [our] old self, which is … corrupted by its deceitful desires … and [putting] on the new self, [which is being] created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22 & 24, emphasis mine). That is getting rid of the old, worn out, inadequate clothing or our own righteousness and putting on the new, fully-covering robe of Jesus’ righteousness which He wishes to bestow upon us.

Jesus gave His body and His blood for our salvation. To take part in that salvation, we must give our bodies and our blood for Him. Now, this might start with a prayer or be announced by baptism but it is evidenced by the fact that an exchanged life is a changed life. If we have said a prayer and/or gotten baptized, yet we are wallowing in the same kinds of sins …  paralyzed by the same disabling fears … consumed with the same self-focused thoughts, … or the same fill-in-the-blank, we might not be saved! If we aren’t becoming increasingly more like Jesus as time passes, we might not belong to Him. If we don’t want to spend any time with Him getting to know Him now, what makes us think we are going to want to spend eternity with Him?

Accepting the gift Jesus is extending requires we let go of what we have in our hands to make room for what He is offering. What we are grasping so tightly is our right to rule our own lives and determine for ourselves the standards for righteousness. What Jesus is offering is His lordship over our lives and the help we need to come up to His requirements for righteousness. Whether we realize it or not, the authority over our own lives is actually too heavy for us to carry. Allowing Jesus to bear the burden brings us relief and liberty. Jesus has way more to give than we have to lose. When we give Him a 100% of us, we get a 100% of Him.

When we realize and utilize the gift Jesus gives, it becomes obvious to us that we have released something infinitesimal and gained something abundant. The righteousness that Jesus is offering is no less than His own Spirit residing in us and raising us up to be all God intends us to be. The Bible tells us, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (1 Peter 1:3, emphasis mine).  Jesus is offering us everything we need for this life and eternity!

It is Jesus doing the work and making the changes in us that prove we are saved. Jesus said to His followers, “‘Apart from Me you can do nothing’” (John 15:5, emphasis mine). If we know we have received Jesus’ gift but we are constantly struggling to bring about changes that look more like Jesus Himself, perhaps we are trying to muster up righteousness in our own strength. That is exactly what Jesus came to save us from! The Apostle Paul told the Colossians, “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him” (Colossians 2:6). If, when we realized our own righteousness was inadequate, we joyfully accepted the gift of Jesus’ righteousness, we should not now try to live the Christian life without the help of Christ.

Now, you might be thinking everything I am saying is ridiculous and this exchange is completely unnecessary because a loving God wouldn’t send anyone to Hell. I ask, “Why wouldn’t He?!” Think of the person or the thing that you love more than anything else in the whole world. What if someone brutally murdered your loved one so badly disfiguring him/her that dental records were necessary to identify him/her? Or what if someone came in and stole and/or completely trashed that thing you so love to the point that it was completely unrecoverable or unsalvageable. Imagine the person who did this evil thing was caught and went to trial. And after all the testimony was given and it was proven without a doubt that he/she was guilty, the jury and judge concluded, since this person had done more good than bad in his/her life, he/she could go free without even having to pay a fine or make restitution in any way. How would you feel? Would you accept this “loving” decision or would you want justice?

Well, humanity, us included, have trashed God’s laws that He gave us for our own good. Consider God’s ten most basic rules—the Ten Commandments. Have any of us ever lied? Have we ever wanted something that wasn’t ours? Have we disrespected our parents? Maybe we have never murdered anyone, but have we hated someone? The Bible makes it clear that “anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). Maybe we haven’t committed adultery, but have we ever looked at someone lustfully? Jesus said that is the same thing. (See Matthew 5:28). And James wrote, “The person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws” (James 2:10).

Similarly, if we don’t accept and use the gift Jesus suffered to buy for us, it is no different than if we were the ones swinging the cat-o’-nine-tails that ripped open His back, no different than those who drove the nails into His hands and feet, and no different than the ones who stood at the foot of the cross mocking and spitting on Him.

You may think I am being a little extreme. I admit that what I am saying assumes you believe in God and you know He cannot lie. (See Hebrews 6:18). And that you believe the Bible is God’s Word; therefore, it cannot lie. If you don’t believe those things, then none of this will matter to you … until you are confronted with eternity and you find out there is a God. It will be a little late to reconsider then. Eternity is forever, my friend.

The Bible makes it clear that there is a real Heaven and there is an actual Hell. According to Jesus, in a parable He told that is recorded in Luke 16, not only is there a Heaven and Hell, but those in both places can see and communicate with the ones in the other location. If anyone wants to go to Hell, it is his/her own business. But I don’t want to spend eternity looking across the great chasm between Heaven and Hell and see anyone I know and love suffering on the other side without at least knowing that I made an effort to spare him/her from that fate.

I love those in my sphere of influence too much to want any one of them to miss out on enjoying to the fullest the best gift ever. If you believe as I do, my challenge to you is to not keep this gift to yourself. Share the entire Gospel with others. At some point, it will be too late to help other people open Jesus’ gift. Today is not that day. Happy gift opening.

¹ Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scriptures are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.