CHRISTMAS MEDITATION
2021
BIG THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES
The quiz show host offers the eager contestant a large box or a small box. The large box may contain a new kitchen or a motorcycle. Or it may be a zonk. On the other hand, the small box (or envelope) may contain diamonds, keys to a new car, a trip to Hawaii, or $5,000 cash. Or it may be a zonk. Which will the contestant choose? The large box or the small box?
Human nature being what it is, the temptation is to take the big box, because we are programmed to believe that big is better. Tall people demand more respect than short people. Large houses are better than small ones. At Christmas, large packages are more desirous than small ones. When I was a kid (a hundred years ago), I was always drawn to the large packages under the Christmas Tree. I thought it had to be something really good.
But that is not always the case. Sometimes the best things come in small packages. After all, a diamond doesn't take up much space.
Come with me to Bethlehem. The eternal God came to earth in a small package. Who woulda thunk? He did not come as an army general riding a white horse with thousands of soldiers at his command. He came as a baby in a manger with nondescript parents, the father a lowly carpenter.
But this small baby grew up to be the greatest man in the history of the world. The centuries were divided by His birth. His followers have numbered in the billions. This single solitary man has changed more lives, commanded more loyalty, and received more adoration than any other person who ever lived.
So when it comes to Christmas, don't discount that baby in a manger just because He came in a small package. He is the greatest gift that this world could ever receive. "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in name (John 1:12)." Now that is a huge Christmas gift! And there is no zonk.
Love, Dad
One Solitary Life
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned--put together--have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.
Attributed to James Allen Francis
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