Elmo, Wii, and Jesus

Every Christmas there seems to be some toy that is a must have but impossible to get. It is a genius marketing plow that drives demand. It creates a joy and rush in the journey or search for the toy. It begins with the quest through the ads or internet, then the franticness of running from store to store with the hopes that the treasure will be found, then, hopefully, it is followed by the adrenaline rush of finding the greatest gift of the year. And next year it will start all over with a different toy. As we look to the Christmas season, this shopping experience reminds me of the true greatness of the gift of Christ. He is the greatest gift, worth giving up all to get, but will not need to be replaced with another quest nor fail to be worth the journey. The joy of the Christian religion is not simply the journey, but what we have in Christ. He is sufficient, our all in all.

Isaiah 9

6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end.

Paul describes this as being realized in Christ in Ephesians 2

13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The journey or quest pails in comparison to the gift. For those that are truly his, he never fails them, always satisfies them, and never leaves them.