When I was a kid, I loved basketball. One Christmas, when we were visiting my grandparents, my sister and I got to pick out some of our presents at what, at least in my mind, was a luxurious mall. The whole experience was thrilling. We went out to eat, shopped, and saw a movie. But most importantly, that was the year I got all the Allen Iverson gear: shoes, sweatsuit, etc. I did not particularly care what else I got; I just wanted those shoes. Ah, sweet contentment. I was happy for like a full 48 hours. Then, my soul settled down from the Yuletide euphoria and began longing for the next object of momentary joy.
As the poet, Wallace Stevens, perceptively writes, “But in contentment I still feel the need for imperishable bliss.”[1] Even the best earthly treasures are deficient in at least two respects. First, they and the joy they provide are temporary. As Robert Frost said, “Nothing gold can stay.”[2] Like bubble gum, every finite thing eventually loses its flavor. Second, earthly treasures cannot provide ultimate or maximum joy. They cannot fill the cup of our hearts.
However, the perishable bliss of giving and receiving good gifts helps us better understand what the perfect gift, if it existed, would be: something of infinite and incorruptible value that provides ultimate and unending joy. That is a tall order. But one that Christianity offers to fulfill.
Psalm 16:11 says that in God’s presence “there is fullness of joy” and at his “right hand are pleasures forevermore.” God is of infinite and incorruptible value (Exodus 3:2,14); hence why his presence can provide the two things we all long for: full or maximum joy that never ends.
Indeed, the infinite pleasures at God’s right hand are not a place or a thing that he graciously gifts to us; they are a Person. Jesus is at God’s right hand (Mark 16:19). So, according to Christianity, the longing for the perfect gift, for “imperishable bliss,” points to a manger in Bethlehem, where God “wrapped” himself in flesh to save us from our sins and satisfy our hearts.
This Christmas, receive the best gift anyone can be given: God in Christ. You will be eternally glad you did.
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