Imagine...

Today's random thought became a part of my lesson for children's church so I decided to share it with others. 

Imagine you could choose any gift you wanted - money is no object. What would you choose? This is the question I asked my students today. The answers varied from a trip to Disney to unlimited money. Then I added a caveat - you can have it, but you have to spend every night in prison for the rest of your life. You can have fun during the day, but each night you must lay your head down inside a prison cell. You would do this to the day you died.

The kids, of course, said things like they'd bail themselves out (those who had wished for unlimited funds) but they were quickly told that there was no bail. Others said they'd get their parents to get them out, only to hear that parents would not be able to do that. The only way for them to get out of this endless cycle of prison was if someone would come and take their place...but who would do that? 

Of course, that's exactly what Jesus did. He came to earth to free us from the prison the enemy had designed for us. The distractions of gifts and fun might make us forget for a while, but the truth was that we were still nothing but prisoners.

The enemy would love to distract us with the shiny, glittery things of the world, but eventually, we have to realize we are still held captive and the only way to find release is for someone to take our place. Our parents can't do it for us, neither can our friends. Only one who knew no sin could take our place and still survive. Jesus.

Jesus knew exactly what lay in store for Him when He came to earth. 

The greatest gift of all, born as a sacrifice in a stable, has come to set us free.
THAT is what Christmas is all about.

Photo by Gareth Harper on Unsplash

2 Corinthians 5:19-21 (MSG)

God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

  Photo by Donald Teel on Unsplash,