I don’t know about you, but over the past few weeks, I’ve been busy…busy doing a little decorating, a little baking, and a little shopping.

Okay, okay…make that a LOT of shopping. ‘Tis the season of giving, right? 😉

In spite all of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday hype, I think the hardest thing about holiday shopping is finding just the right gift for just the right person. Some people are hard to shop for!

It can be especially difficult to find the perfect gift when you don’t know the recipient very well…like at the annual extended family gift-exchange when you inevitably draw the name of your husband’s third-cousin twice-removed. 😬🤦‍♀️

I’m not complaining, I’m just sayin’ in order to know what to buy, it helps to know a little bit about who you are buying for first.

I think that’s why I find it so easy to buy for my kids…after all, I did help create and raise them! Plus they’re always around me…and like it or not, they are constantly communicating the things that they want and/or “need.” And trust me, it’s a looooong list. 🙄🙄🙄😂

Part of me would love to give my children everything their little hearts desire, but the other (more rational and budget-conscious) part of me knows that I need to screen and filter some of these requests, especially since my kids have the uncanny ability to turn just about anything into a weapon (e.g. “Ralphie, you’ll shoot your eye out.”) 😂

So, I weigh the pros and the cons, I research, I read reviews and in my parental wisdom, I ultimately decide if it’s something good to buy for them or not.

And that’s when, in the midst of all this shopping, I started thinking how God is a lot like that with His children, too. ❤️

We think we know what we want/need, but God knows what we really need…and He knows it before we even ask Him (Matthew 6:8). Why? Because not only is He infinitely wise, but He knows us better than we know ourselves.

You see, “Santa” may know whether we’ve been naughty or nice…but God knows us even better than that — He created us, after all! Scripture says He knows every hair on our heads (Luke 12:7) and every intent of our hearts (Jeremiah 17:10)!!

And metaphorically speaking, He also knows when we’re going to shoot our eye out 😂 — and like any good parent, He is faithful to sift through our petitions and work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

In fact, James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Even if He never gave us anything else, He’s already given us the most priceless gift of all — the gift of salvation through His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ. It’s a present that’s been wrapped and waiting under the tree for the past 2,000 years.

As with any gift, it’s free — but it’s up to us to decide what we’ll do with it. Will we keep it or will we exchange it for something else we want more?

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” -Mark 8:36-38

Exchanging the gift of eternal salvation for any temporary pleasures this world has to offer is the equivalent of trading in a one-of-a-kind million dollar diamond ring for a million items at The Dollar Tree instead. 😱

(Correction/update: apparently everything at The Dollar Tree is no longer a dollar each, but due to inflation 😒 the price of each item is now $1.25…meaning you could could only afford to buy 800,000 items…not a million…sigh 😔)…

Anyway, while I love me a good Dollar Tree bargain…the trade just doesn’t make sense, right?

On paper it appears to be an even exchange…and in fact you will appear to have more than you had before, because instead of just one item, now you will have nearly a million.

But the value and the worth of the items are simply not the same…

And that’s how the devil gets us – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (I John 2:16).

And that’s why we need a Savior.

God knows our hearts, He knows what we need and He’s given it to us through the gift of His Son Jesus.

If we choose to accept the gift of salvation through belief and baptism, we will experience the true meaning of peace, comfort, and joy all year round.

And nothing in Santa’s big red bag could ever compare with that.

Until next time…

-PWAP