The First Gift Giver: How Our Christmas Giving Displays Our Savior
December 12, 2022 • by Lizzie Laferton
Christmas 2020—the year Covid canceled all our plans and saw our family of four spend the 25th on our own—actually ended up being one of my favorite Christmases of all.
I cherish a set of memories that still make me want to dance with joy even as I type: the sight of my then eight and six-year-olds actually quivering with dizzy excitement at gift-opening time. But what they were most excited about wasn’t a parcel labeled with their name.
The event that saw them spinning circles on the floor out of pent-up anticipation was giving gifts to other family members. These were gifts they had carefully thought up, researched, made or purchased, and then wrapped with homemade paper. My photo reel shows the biggest smile of the day on the face of my daughter as she watched my son open the soccer annual she’d saved up to buy him. They got to experience that fist-pump-inducing, can’t-tell-who’s-more-excited joy of watching someone open a present you know they’re going to appreciate.
Don’t you just love those moments? The moments when you get to watch anticipation, realization, delight, and gratitude all play out in front of you. There is a lot of pleasure in giving. What’s more, for the recipient, your love, generosity and thoughtfulness are put on display in the present you’ve chosen. Both gift-giver and gift-getter know joy.
And it’s no wonder. We are made in the image of the God who was the first gift giver. We’re made in the image of the God who delights to give good gifts
The Greatest Gift Giver
When we read the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2, we are watching a scene of large-scale, lavish gift giving! From the Creator’s hand come plant and animal life in all their abundance and variety: trees that aren’t just functional but are also “pleasing to the eye” (Gen. 2:9, NIV); the first human relationship, given to meet a need (Gen. 2:18); and, of course, the very breath of life.
Everything we need comes as a gift from the Creator, who causes “the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth” (Ps. 104:14). And in that psalm, God’s gifts not only meet basic needs but they also quench and satisfy, gladden and strengthen. God is not a grudging giver, or a last-minute giver, or an oh-that’ll-do-giver. He is a supremely generous giver who bestows gifts that meet needs, bring satisfaction, and cause delight.
If you know someone who’s especially good at choosing gifts, chances are they’re reflecting God in at least one of those ways.
“ We’re made in the image of the God who delights to give good gifts”
Humanity’s Ingratitude
Of course, the picture of humanity in Scripture is less the generous giver and more the ungrateful recipient. If you’ve ever witnessed someone receiving a gift casually or ungraciously (or, as I do, cringe at the memory of being that someone yourself), you’ll recognize the ugly image of the human race we see in Romans 1.
Thinking of God as a gift giver highlights the ingratitude of our sin: we neither glorify him as the Giver nor give thanks to him (Rom. 1:21). Instead, we worship and serve the created gifts he has given us instead of the Creator who gave them to us (Rom. 1:25). It would be perfectly fair if God took away his gifts of life and every good thing from ungrateful humanity.
God’s Greatest Gift
Wonderfully, this brings us to the best gift of all. Rather than stripping us of his gifts, God doubled down on the generosity! The Son came into the world on a rescue mission to make a way for us to continue to enjoy his gifts and, supremely, to enjoy him.
He gave up the throne room of heaven to give us an undeserved place there. On the cross, he gave up his life to give us life that will last eternally. He took on human form, hardship, and punishment he didn’t deserve in order to give us the name “child of God.” Salvation through Christ, and faith in him, are gifts freely given and entirely unearned, coming from the hand of the God whose nature is overflowing grace (Eph. 2:4-10).
And from our loving Father come yet more gifts: living hope, eternal life, his Spirit’s presence, the privilege of prayer, the power of his word, daily bread, the gifts of his Spirit, the body of Christ, God-given circumstances that refine and sanctify, peace and hope and wisdom, and his incomparably great power for us who believe… gift upon abundant gift! All freely given! God is the generous, gracious, gift-giving God.
And he calls us to be like him.
“God is the generous, gracious, gift-giving God. And he calls us to be like him.”
Re-Made in His Image
To grow in the likeness of God is also in his gift. It is the Father who changes us. He both calls us to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” and works in us “to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Phil. 2:5,13, NIV). He restores to us a heart that loves the Giver more than his gifts, and teaches us to live—and give—like the Son. We are being remade in Christ’s image.
As that happens, we reflect Jesus and his gospel to the world by giving as Jesus gives. We are need-meeting givers: we stand ready to provide for others (Luke 3:11), compelled by gospel-shaped love (1 John 3:17), working with a view to having something to give away (Eph. 4:28). We are merciful givers: we give to those in need even if they’ve wronged us, just as our Father has done for us (Luke 6:35-36). We are sacrificial givers: we give in ways that involve humbling ourselves, accepting losses, and taking on hardship, having the same mindset as Christ Jesus, and looking to the interests of others rather than to our own (Phil. 2:3-5).
And we also reflect Jesus and his gospel to the world when we give generously of the gifts he’s entrusted to us. We hold out the good news of the gospel at every opportunity (2 Cor. 5:18-20). We use the gifts the Spirit has distributed among the church for the good of his people (1 Cor. 12:4-7). We give of our time, energy, talents and income with a cheerful heart (2 Cor. 9:7). We offer our lives to God in his service (Rom. 12:1).
Reflecting the Giver this Christmas
If you are in the habit of giving gifts at Christmas and you’re at the more organized end of the festive spectrum, you may already have that—ha!—wrapped up. But there are also other ways you can reflect God’s generosity over the coming weeks and into the new year.
Among the busyness of the season, you can be generous with your prayer time and with your invitations as you hold out opportunities to hear the gospel. You can delight people with gifts they don’t expect. That might be offers of babysitting, help with chores, a note of thanks or support, a coffee paid forward, or an invitation to join you at Christmas. You could look for ways to be need-meeting givers by providing meals, by making donations, or by committing to pray for someone, for instance. You could give at cost to yourself by serving despite tiredness, by inviting people to give gifts to charity rather than to you, or by giving away some of what you receive this Christmas.
At this time of year, we celebrate the coming into the world of the first and greatest Giver who is also the best and most beautiful gift. Thankfully, it looks like Christmas will no longer be constrained by Covid. As joyful as that isolated Christmas in 2020 turned out to be for my family, the joy of giving gifts can only grow when we spread them abroad more widely. There will be joy for the givers. There will be joy for the getters. And—we can pray—there will be joy for those who learn something of the Christ who is reflected in the giving.
Lizzie Laferton is the author of several resources for families and churches, including The God of Amazing Gifts: Family Devotions for Advent, There’s a Lion in my Nativity, and The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross Sunday School Lessons. She serves on the women’s ministry team and teaches 7 to 11-years-olds at her church in London, where she lives with her husband and two children.
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