The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page B

the Messiah and the slamming hammer and the tearing vein and the piercing thorn —the created murdering the Creator.
    The Cross stands as the epitome of evil.
    And God takes the greatest evil ever known to humanity and turns it into the greatest Gift you have ever known.
    “If the worst things work for good to a believer, what shall the best things?” writes Puritan Thomas Watson. “Nothing hurts the godly . . . all things . . . shall co-operate for their good, that their crosses shall be turned into blessings.” [11]
    If God can transfigure the greatest evil into the greatest Gift, then He intends to turn whatever you’re experiencing now into a gift. You cannot be undone.
    Somewhere, Advent can storm and howl. And the world robed for Christmas can spin on.
    You, there on the edge, whispering it, defiant through the torn places: “All is grace.”

    Just as Joseph forgave his brothers, think of one person you can forgive today. Write down that person’s name on a piece of paper. Then write out your thanks to God for taking that evil and making it good, for His promise that no matter what is done to you, He will not let you be undone.

    A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes . . . and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.
    DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

    When have you seen God take what was torn and turn it into a gift?
    What evils are you experiencing now that you need God to transform into something good?
    In what areas of your life do you feel like you’re coming unraveled? What would it feel like to have your heavenly Father slip a robe of righteousness over your shoulders?

[The Lord said,] “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”
    DEUTERONOMY 5:29 (NIV)

    Moses summoned all Israel and said:
    Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. . . .
    I stood between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD. . . . And he said:
    “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
    “You shall have no other gods before me.
    “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. . . .
    “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God. . . .
    “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. . . .
    “Honor your father and your mother. . . .
    “You shall not murder.
    “You shall not commit adultery.
    “You shall not steal.
    “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
    “You shall not covet. . . .”
    These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me. . . .
    [The Lord said,] “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”
    DEUTERONOMY 5:1, 5-22, 29 (NIV)
    Love comes surely.
    Like Advent and the Child, like night and the stars.
    Like the gift of the Ten Commandments written with His very finger, this covenant to love.
    They say that it came as a legal code, those Ten Commandments —but it is more. That it came as the inauguration of shalom , of the Kingdom —but it is more. Maybe this is the truest —that it comes as this whisper of His heart, your God entreating you to love.
    Jewish weddings required a chuppah , a canopy covering, and your God comes down on Mount Sinai and gives the mountain a canopy of cloud. Jewish weddings required a mikveh so the bride could purify herself before the wedding, and your God gives the people before Mount Sinai time to purify themselves. And Jewish weddings required