A Lump of Coal and Good News!

I hear lots of jokes this time of year about "lumps of coal".  The underlying premise of this concept is that we deserve gifts and the lump of coal will only be given to people who have been really bad.  In other words, the gifts are ours to lose.  Like many things, our society has this backwards.  In reality, we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. We are not entitled to anything.  We deserve the lump of coal.  Without the grace of our God, we have nothing.

Thankfully, we have a gracious and loving heavenly Father who has sent us the perfect gift.  However, it was not enough for Jesus to be born.  Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins and then was raised from the dead.  Now, He sits at the right hand of God. If we accept this gift and ask God into our heart as our personal Lord and Savior, our sins will be erased. We can live for eternity with God in heaven. This is the Good News!  What a powerful and priceless gift. 

I have been thinking about including a lump of coal in the stockings this year as a simple reminder of this concept--a simple illustration of what we deserve compared to what we have been given.  In the midst of all of the excitement of earthly gifts, this would give us a chance to pause and give thanks to our God who sent us his son.  What a powerful teachable moment.