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“For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:39
Christmas can be such a terrific time of the year. It can also be an overwhelming hassle. Don’t you agree? And if you and I are saying this, how much more do our wives feel this way?
Decorating the house, sending Christmas cards, shopping for and preparing food, making sure everyone on “the list” is taken care of—what do you buy your twelve- year-old nephew?—and reading all those multipage, single-spaced family newsletters from people you haven’t seen for decades are only a few of the duties thatcome along with this season. By the time the actual day arrives, you’re exhausted. Your wife is even more so.
However, regardless of the trauma it cost you to get to Christmas morning, there’s something so magical about this day that you completely forget the trouble it was to get here. This is especially true if you’ve got little ones around.
Our daughters had grown up. The older one was married. She and her husband and their two-year-old daughter lived in a faraway land. OK, it was only North Carolina, but it felt like a faraway land. Our younger daughter had her own home and pretty much her own adult life. It had been a long time since Christmas morning had included two little girls in fuzzy sleepers with built-in feet and drop seats.
Christmas 1997 changed all that. Everyone was home, and the magic was back. Abby, our granddaughter, came sliding down the stairs on her tummy, feet first, the way all two-year-olds do. And when she saw what Nanny had prepared for this moment, she didn’t know what to do. Frozen in her tracks, her eyes scanned the room.
Soon her stare rested on the little white hand-painted table and chairs. Sitting in one of the chairs was a beautiful doll; in the other chair sat a big brown teddy bear, fuzzier than she was. Her eyes had found something she really wanted.
Abby looked at her parents. She looked at Nanny and Granddaddy. We all had huge—and I’m pretty sure, goofy—smiles on our faces. And then Aunt Julie said the words a child loves to hear on Christmas morning. “It’s for you, Abby. It’s for you.”
Nothing can adequately describe the face of a child when she realizes that something she really would like to have is hers. It’s awesome.
The apostle Peter was preaching the sermon of his life. Jesus had gone back to heaven, and the baton had been passed to the disciples. Like a brother who had just sent his older sibling off to college, Peter was stepping up. Looking at the huge crowd that had gathered, Peter spoke these words: “You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children” (vv. 38–39). This moment was even more thrilling than Aunt Julie saying, “It’s for you, Abby. It’s for you.”
That day three thousand people received the gift. It was a moment none of them would ever forget. When did you receive the gift? And how many of your friends and colleagues need to hear the words “It’s for you, my friend. It’s for you”?
God’s Holy Spirit is the perfect present for you and for your children on Christmas or any other morning.