The Best and Worst of Times

One of the very best Christmases of my life started out as one of the worst.

It happened when I was in the fifth grade. Back then, my mother was depressed, completely enslaved to alcohol, and was violently abusive to me and my twin brother. Things always got worse in the lead-up to Christmas, and that year was no exception. Mom was so consistently drunk and disoriented that she was not going to work, was not sending us to school, and was not even trying to care for us. We had not had a regular meal in days.

My oldest brother was serving in the military at that time and called to check on us. He listened to all that was going on and immediately called our dad to tell him we needed help very badly. This was important because my mom had moved us away from our dad to keep him from interfering with her lifestyle, and he had no idea how to contact us.

As soon as he learned where we were and what was going on, he showed up to rescue us. It was a dramatic scene. My dad had tangled with my mom before, and so arrived with the police to avoid any wild charges she might make. The memory of that scene is permanently etched in my mind. The lights from the police car flashed through the night, alternately illuminating our house with deep reds and blues. My dad gently ushered us into his car and away from the house where my mom lay unconscious—too drunk even to know we had been taken away.

Christmas Morning

A matter of days later, it was Christmas morning, and I awakened in my new bedroom at my dad’s house. As I shuffled into the living room the scene was nearly the opposite from what I saw leaving my mom’s house just a few days earlier. Light from the Christmas tree shone out and bathed the entire room in a beautiful wash of warm color. The light illuminated countless packages wrapped in beautiful paper, trimmed with lovely ribbons, and stuffed under the massive tree. That same light lit up the kind and cheerful face of my wonderful father who greeted me with “Merry Christmas!” and a hug I can still feel around my neck and arms.

Even as a young boy, I could see in that morning amid all those presents, a mighty effort on the part of my dad to provide generous gifts for his sons that, a few short days ago, he did not even know would be there.

All this happened years before I trusted in Jesus and knew the real meaning of the season, but whenever I remember that Christmas, which started out so badly but ended so happily, I see an obvious lesson about the great love of God at Christmas.

A Christmas Lesson

The most famous verse in the Bible is often overlooked as the Christmas passage that it really is. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

That text is a Christmas passage because it points to the coming of Jesus Christ as a gift to save from sin, death, and hell. That gift is grounded in the great love of a gracious father who loves his people so much that he provides the lavish gift of his Son so they can enjoy eternal life.

That delightful Christmas morning the gifts I received of a bike, games, and many toys, were delightful presents for which I was overjoyed. As wonderful as they were, they are not worth comparing with the gift of knowing Jesus as my Savior and Lord. But in that vivid memory of the hard work, sacrificial service, and smiling face of my dad, I always see a glorious reflection of the great love of God who gave his Son for us.

That’s an image I hope you encounter. This Christmas, I hope every smiling face and every generous gift ultimately points you to the great love of God, who sent his Son Jesus to be the best gift you will ever receive.