Christmas began with gifts. The Wise Men's gifts for Jesus each had a special meaning. They had been chosen with care, and the gold, frankincense and myrrh each had a particular point to make about who Jesus was and what his work was going to entail.

But the first and greatest gift was the baby Jesus himself. Not just to his earthly parents in the way that any new-born child is. Nor even in a special way to them, knowing as they did that he was to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah.

Jesus was, and still is, God's gift for all mankind. A present that could never be deserved or earned. For He is God's own Son: God Himself in a man. Someone whose whole purpose and being was to grow up and to die a cruel and completely undeserved death. A death which would cancel out our faults and our falling short of the standard God asks of us. Then to be raised back to life again by God's power; to lead us into a perfect, unspoilable life beyond death… if only we believe in Him.

What a Christmas present!