Hammacher Schlemmer offers a slot car race track for $125,000! I wonder who will be getting one of those for Christmas. What is the most extravagant gift you have ever received? How about the most extravagant gift you have ever given? What did it cost?
Chances are pretty good that you have a Christmas card, sitting in the pile, that contains these words:
“For to us a child is born…” (Isaiah 9:6a)
The hope and joy expressed in those prophetic words make them a favorite for the makers of Christmas cards. Isaiah knew Who was coming and wrote those words 700 years before they came to pass. But the familiarity of those words might obscure the angst of the next phrase:
“…to us a son is given…” (Isaiah 9:6b)
Brand new parents are fun to watch because they barely touch the ground. They radiate joy and excitement and intense possibility. But, as I remember well, a new father becomes instantly protective in a fierce way. He is possessed by an instinctive and powerful readiness. It’s like a one man Secret Service detail. I cannot imagine what it would take to willingly give a newborn son. The young mothers who give up their newborn babies for adoption, do so at unspeakable cost. I honor them as heroes. Perhaps they, more than any other, know how to read this phrase:
“…to us a son is given…”
The Father gave His only Son – gave Him to you and me – knowing from eternity past how that Gift would be eventually rejected and mistreated. Amazing love…
“…to us a son is given…”
FRESH BREAD OF LIFE 