But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Galatians 4:4-5
“Big and glossy and loud and fast—that’s how this bent-up world turns. But God, when He comes—He shows up in this fetal ball. He who carved the edges of the cosmos curved Himself into a fetal ball in the dark, tethered Himself to the uterine wall of a virgin, and lets His cells divide, light splitting all white. He gave up the heavens that were not even large enough to contain Him and lets Himself be held in a hand. The mystery so large becomes the Baby so small, and infinite God becomes infant. The Giver becomes the Gift, this quiet offering.”
Ann Voskamp in The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas (Nashville: Tyndale, 2013) vii.
As we draw near to Christmas, let us ponder and adore our Savior. Let us learn from Him and how He arrived, how the Giver became the Gift. He was a quiet offering.
It’s the opposite of how things work in this crazy and noisy world. He came in humility and quietness. What if we came that way in our giving?
Here’s how it might appear. We’d stand back, watch, ask questions discern needs, and meet them quietly and richly. That’s what God did on that first silent night, holy night.
I think it would also be otherworldly. There is a glorious divinity linked to the nativity. What would it look like for our giving to proclaim glory to God in the highest?
Let’s give our first and best this Christmas, so that our generosity is both a quiet offering and touches people and needs in a manner that brings the most glory to God.