About the time Thanksgiving leftovers have all been eaten, the
Ferguson household begins pulling Christmas decorations out of the attic and
preparing for our favorite holiday of the year.
The tree is put in place; the staircase is wrapped in garland and
lights; the stockings are hung in birth order across the mantel. Then, as
Christmas music fills the air, my favorite part of the decorating festivities
begins – taking the ornaments out of the boxes and finding their places on the
tree.
Christmas ornaments tell a story of who we are, where
we’ve been, and what we have done. Our ornament from 1987 reminds everyone it
was Mark and Mindy Ferguson’s “First Christmas Together”. A 1989 rocking horse announces
the year of our son Brandon’s birth. An ornament from 1991 proclaims the new
life we found in Christ that year. 1993’s contribution is a plump, pink teddy
bear sitting in a swing, reminding all that our family was completed with the
arrival of Brianna. We have keepsakes from family vacations, mementos from school
sport achievements, and, of course, several handmade construction paper
treasures from the kids’ preschool and elementary days. Ornaments tell stories
as they adorn our trees.
We all know ornaments are decorations. However, according to
Webster’s Concise Dictionary of the English Language (Trident
Press, 1997), an ornament can also be a “person considered as a source of
honor or credit.”
Hebrews 1:3 tells us, “[Jesus]
is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.” As
Jesus prepared to face the cross, He prayed to His Father and said, “I have brought you glory on earth by
finishing the work you gave me to do”(John 17:4). And as He hung on the
cross, taking the punishment for your sin and mine, Jesus revealed the grace of
His Father by giving us the most precious gift the world has ever received.
The
salvation offered to each of us who choose to place our faith in Jesus Christ
can never be earned. It is a gift of unmerited favor; a gift of grace. Jesus is
an ornament of grace. His life, His death, and His resurrection all serve as a
source of honor and credit to our gracious and loving God.
This Christmas as we celebrate the gift of Jesus –God’s
ornament of grace—remember that you, too, can be an ornament of grace as you
tell others of the unmerited favor and unfailing love you have received through
faith in Jesus. You can bring honor and credit to our Lord as you serve others
and do the work God has called you to do during your days on this earth. Like
the ornaments on our trees, your life can tell a story of where you have been,
who God is, and what He has done in your life. I challenge you to be an
ornament of God’s grace in 2014.
"For it
is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).
Merry Christmas! I love you. - Mindy
