For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)

The Christmas story is the greatest story ever told. But it isn’t a fairy tale; it’s history. It is His story. The Son of God, the Savior, God incarnate, entered our world when He was born in Bethlehem on the first Christmas.

But why did God send His Son to Earth? Why did Jesus walk among us as a man? Why was all this done? It was so that God could give us the greatest gift of all: the gift of eternal life. Romans 6:23 says, “The free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NLT).

The gift of Christmas is the gift of eternal life. That is why God came to this earth.

When we open Christmas gifts, we’ll initially feel excited about them—or at least about some of them. But it won’t be long until they’re quickly outdated or forgotten.

But God’s gift, the gift of eternal life, only grows in value as we begin to understand what it’s all about. What’s more, it isn’t a gift that we can only enjoy when death comes. It’s a gift that we can enjoy right now.

That’s because one of the aspects of this gift of eternal life is something called justification. This is a unique, biblical word with a twofold meaning. First, it speaks of what God has taken away. And what has He taken away? Our sin. The moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ, our sins are instantaneously forgiven.

Think of all the things you’ve done that you have regretted. God can forgive you of those things because of the death of Jesus on the cross. If you will turn from your sin and call it what it is, God will forgive you.

Second, justification speaks of what God has put in place of our sin. When God justifies us, when we believe in Jesus, He places the righteousness of Christ into our account. And that balances the moral and spiritual budget for us.

Pastor and author Charles Swindoll describes justification this way: “Justification is the sovereign act of God whereby He declares righteous the believing sinner—while he is still in a sinning state.”

The Bible says, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us” (Romans 5:1 NLT).

The reason we can approach God, the reason we have access to God, and the reason that God will even hear our prayers is because of the gift He has given to us. And while this gift is free to us, it was bought with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Do you know God in a personal way? If you’ve never asked Jesus to come into your life, will you do it today? This is why Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He came to bring you this gift. As Isaiah tells us, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us” (9:6 NLT). He is God’s gift from Heaven.

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