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Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary. You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, use your body to bring glory to God! 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 The Passion Translation

On this day when we celebrate the birth of the Son of God, I ran across this verse that we were God’s most expensive purchase. A gift I can never repay, but one that I never take for granted. That He gave me the gift of His Holy Spirit which now lives inside of me to help me in my everyday living. What a treasure we have in our Lord. We can’t continually wish for something else when the one who values us and lavishes great gifts on us is really all we need.

Lord, nothing in the earth can satisfy or bring me joy but you. I hear people say, “I want that for Christmas!” but I want You. In days or weeks, the newness of those things will wear off and they will be left wanting once again. But You have won my affections and as my gift to You, I set them on You today. I’m grateful for all You’ve done and continually do, but I want this day to be all about You. When You look down on our home, may You enjoy the gift we bring.

I Corinthians 13:3 says, “If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” So it would seem, Lord, that the greatest gift I can give is Love. I will live to give love to those I meet. A smile, a kind word, compassion, a prayer, a dollar, a meal. A word of praise to the checkout clerk who looks stressed because her child is sick and she can’t pay her bills. I will look for ways to give that cost me everything, because that is what it cost you.

Happy Gifting,

Sandy G