December 2nd

Nearly 2000 years after that first announcement of Christmas to Adam and Eve, another married couple was given a promise. Abraham and Sarah had not been able to have children. After having been married for many, many years God delivered to them a birth announcement.

“Then God said, ‘Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.’” Genesis 17:19

Isaac would not be the savior who would crush the evil one (as we read in Genesis 3:15). But God would make an “everlasting covenant” with Isaac’s descendants.” This “everlasting covenant” would be fulfilled by Jesus. He would be an Everlasting Father in the family tree of Abraham and Isaac. In other words, someone related to Isaac would one day secure a relationship with God that would never end. It would be as eternal as God Himself!

The third chapter of Genesis revealed that a descendant of Eve was coming to crush the evil one. Then, in chapter 17, it was revealed that the descendants of Isaac would be in an everlasting covenant with the Creator. Something, or someone, special was on the way!

Abraham and Sarah just wanted a child. God planned to give them a child, and so much more. His plans were bigger than their wishes. He would give them the promise of an everlasting relationship.

God has a way of giving us more than we asked for. More than we could ever imagine. It’s what He does!

As a child, I created Christmas wish lists. I wanted a lot of plastic toys that my parents knew would be lost or broken by New Year’s Day. “Everlasting” gifts never made my lists. I never asked for decades of friendship. I never asked for unconditional love. I never asked for my mom’s prayers. I never asked for my dad’s approval. While I was content with a game or an action figure, my parents had planned much more. More than I could have asked or imagined.

How can you make this Christmas season less about temporary gifts and more about God’s everlasting gifts? Take a moment now to thank God, your Everlasting Father, for giving you even more than you asked or expected. Thank God that what He gives is everlasting.