Unwanted Christmas gifts

Around this time of the year many folks lie.  Yes, lie....as in telling a fib.  They do it in the context of being nice....but, after all, lying is lying isn't it?  So what is it about this time of year that sees, perhaps, a greater percentage of folks lying than at any other time?  Because it is Christmas.

The normal routine for Christmas is the exchange of gifts.  And if folks would be truly honest about it we would find that there is an abundance of unwanted Christmas gifts given and received.  No one, however, will ever acknowledge, truthfully, that a gift they have open is really unwanted.  They'll never ask, for instance, "why did you buy me that"?  Or, you'll never hear them say such things as "that's ugly, I'll never wear that", or "really?".  So we hear the Christmas time lies that come with receiving those unwanted Christmas gifts.  Like, "wow, is that neat", or "oh, I really like that", etc.

This stuff happens year in and year out at Christmas.  But, there is something else that happens each and every Christmas.  Something far more important than the usual gifting...both wanted and unwanted.  Each year at Christmas  we are reminded of God's gift to us....all of us.  His son, Jesus. 
That gift He sent to save us all....each and every one of us.  The gift, one we have the choice to embrace or not embrace as our own, that ensures us everlasting life if we accept it.  Yes, Jesus.  And yet, year after year, folks continue to treat that gift as an unwanted Christmas gift.  Some will ignore it, some will only pay soft lip service to it.  Hey....we're talking Jesus here....not some junk wrapped up in a box.  We're talking life.....not things.

Have you sometimes treated God's gift to us, Jesus, as an unwanted Christmas gift?