New Christmas Poem

I attended my home church's Christmas program tonight, which was a blessing. It's a very small church, but it's Christmas concerts are always perfectly professional. The title of this year's program was something like "No Other Name." Though so many other parents have discussed what they will name their children, it seems to me that very few claim having an angel tell them what they should name their child. Mary and Joseph were two of the lucky ones. "You are to give him the name Jesus" the angel told Mary in Luke 1:31 and Joseph in Matthew 1:21. And though some parents might believe an angel revealed the names of their children, I am certain that NO other given name grants salvation from sin but "Jesus Christ". Acts 4:12 says it this way: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." How much power can one word hold? As an English major, it's my job to study words and to combine them to make powerful statements. Yet, no other word in any language's vocabulary can conjure up the power of that one word, "Jesus." There really is, "just something about that name."

And as if God wanted to prove that He was unmatchable, he not only did so by having an unbeatable name, but also by giving an unmatchable gift. I assure you that anything you give or receive this Christmas will be temporary. Whether it's a tie for your dad or a diamond ring for your girlfriend, you are incapable of giving a gift that will really last forever, no matter what that diamond commercial says. But God could, and He did through Jesus. I recently wrote this poem about that gift:


In a simple wooden box
With cloth for a bow
Was a small bundled gift
Better than all my hopes
Outnumbering all my dreams
Overpowering all my desires
Bigger than I could ever be.
He wrapped up more than my everything,
And I got it all for free.
Not even on a holiday
It was just a day
When he wrapped up redemption
And gave it to me.
It was put in a box
Yet it sets me free
A present that saves me from my past
With a divine note attached
To secure my future
By adopting me
Through a small bundled gift
Wrapping up more than everything
In a simple wooden box
With cloth for a bow.