What comes to mind when I say “wish book”? As a child, I would pour over the Sears or J.C. Penney catalog when Christmas time came. My children did the same thing. Those books were filled with beautiful gift boxes, pretty dresses and amazing toys. I’m not sure I ever got anything from those catalogs that sat on the coffee table but they really captured my imagination with the possibilities. I could spend hours looking at every detail!
It’s too bad that I didn’t spend as much time searching through the Bible that sat on the same coffee table. Maybe some of the sorrow in my life could have been avoided. Unlike the “wish book” which held thousands of items that would be here today and gone tomorrow, the Bible is full of eternal blessings that can give you lasting joy and peace. It contains information that is the key to that for which we long. The Christmas story is the beginning of the best gift ever given. It is the hope for a cleansing of our sinful lives. It is the joy of an eternal future. It tells us that God is holding onto the back of the bike so we can fly through life toward home. It gives us a sense of our true purpose. The birth of Christ opens the door to all the things we long for but cannot buy.
We pour over earthly “wish books” and web sites searching for happiness. Satan has made it easy to trade things for the grace gifts of God because Satan takes MasterCard. Don’t forget why we celebrate Christmas. True joy and happiness only became possible with the coming of the Christ child.