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Lifted Up - part 3 - Us

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Do you like getting presents? Of course we all do!

Do you like giving presents? Now see that's where it gets a little tougher. Maybe you don't know what to get for someone and you struggle every year to find something for them. Maybe you feel that they don't deserve a gift. They just flat out don't deserve it. Maybe there are some other variables involved that make it hard for you to give a gift.

Sometimes with give gifts that have strings attached. We give gifts to get attention or something in return. We give gifts that will benefit us just as much as the person to whom we are giving it. We give gifts with strings attached.

In the movie, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, he succeeds at stealing The Who's things thinking that he will destroy their Christmas. But when The Who's celebrate Christmas anyway without anything at all, the Grinch can figure it out. Then he has a revelation that "Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more." [1]

Christmas does mean a little bit more. Let's read a passage in 1 John

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” - 1 John 4:9-12, NIV

God gave us the greatest gift. He gave us Jesus! God might have looked down and wonder what He could gave us. He tried many different things and He was probably thinking "I just don't know what to give them that will fix the mess that they have made." Then He thought about it and said - "I know what I'll give them... I'll give them Jesus. I don't know how else to save them. I don't know how else to fix the mess that they have made. I am going to give them the gift of my Son - no strings attached. They don't deserve it. But I'm going to give it to them anyway."

God lifted us up in that moment. God showed us His love and compassion when He sent Jesus down to be the Savior of the world.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” - John 3:16-17, NIV

If you believe that God sent Jesus to us to redeem us and give us new and eternal life and you want to be a part of God's family - I invite you to pray the prayer below and ask Jesus into your life today. Don't wait. If God has touched your heart while reading this post - don't wait pray the following prayer.

 DEAR GOD,
I’M PRAYING BECAUSE I KNOW I NEED A SAVIOR. I BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD, HE DIED FOR MY SINS, AND ROSE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY. I’M ASKING YOU TO FORGIVE MY SINS, AND I BELIEVE THROUGH JESUS, I AM FORGIVEN. AMEN.

 If you prayed the prayer above please let us know! We want to celebrate with you. Please send an email to secondstagequestions@gmail.com and someone will get back to you with some next steps. Or CLICK HERE and taken to our NEXT STEPS PAGE.
_____________________
1] How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
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