Your Christmas Gift to Jesus

by Rick Warren — December 25, 2024
From Will I Make Room for Jesus

“I don’t want your sacrifices—I want your love; I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me.”

Hosea 6:6 (TLB)

Imagine that your friends throw a birthday party for you. Everyone brings a gift, but instead of giving them to you, they give them to each other! As strange as that sounds, it happens every Christmas. We give gifts to everybody except Jesus.

You may be saying to yourself, “God already has everything! What could I possibly give him?” Or you may think you don’t have anything worth giving.

God doesn’t want things from you. In Hosea 6:6, God says, “I don’t want your sacrifices—I want your love; I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me” (Hosea 6:6 TLB). Here are several things to give Jesus this Christmas that he can’t get from anyone but you.

Give him your trust. God will never force you to trust him. Faith is always voluntary. You have to give him your trust. And then God will work in your life based on your faith in him. Jesus says, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 NIV). The more you trust him, the more he is able to do through you.

Give him your heart. The Message paraphrase says, “Open up before GOD, keep nothing back; he’ll do whatever needs to be done” (Psalm 37:5). God wants every part of your life. He wants you to say, “God, I’m opening up my life to you—the good, the bad, and the ugly.” When you do that, God promises to help you mature into who he created you to be.

Giving God your heart also means giving him what you love, value, and treasure. In fact, Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34 NIV). God isn’t just talking about your money. He doesn’t need your money. He wants what it represents—anything that is more important to you than him.

Bring others to him. God wants everyone in his forever family. It’s the reason he sent Jesus: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV). God wants you to tell others about Jesus. The Bible says: “Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full” (Luke 14:23 NLT). This Christmas, be a star and a light that guides other people to Jesus.

Jesus wants these gifts, and he can’t get them from anyone but you. But he won’t force you. Despite the rush and activities of the season, stop today to consider what gifts you will bring to Jesus this Christmas.

Talk It Over

  • What gifts will you bring to Jesus this Christmas?
  • In what area of your life can you trust Jesus more? What step can you take to show that you trust him? (Maybe that means waiting patiently for him to answer your prayers, obeying an instruction he’s given you, or surrendering control of a stressful situation.)
  • Think of at least one person you can invite to a Christmas service this year. Make a plan to invite them!

Will you receive God’s greatest gift this Christmas?

God’s great generosity is reflected in his gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Your sins separate you from God. And it is only God’s grace, through Jesus, that can get you back into right relationship with him.

The Bible says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV).


If you’re ready to accept this gift from God, then pray this prayer:

“Dear Jesus, I don’t want my sin to separate me from you any longer. You have promised that if I believe in you, everything I’ve ever done wrong will be forgiven, I will learn the purpose of my life, and you will accept me into your eternal home in heaven one day.

“I confess my sin, and I believe you are my Savior. You have promised that if I confess my sin and trust you, I will be saved. I trust you when you say salvation comes by grace, through faith, and not by anything I do. I receive you into my life as my Lord. Today, I’m turning over every part of my life to you.

“I want to live the way you created me to live and use the rest of my life to serve you instead of serving myself. I commit my life to you and ask you to save me and accept me into your family. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”

If you just prayed to accept Jesus, please email me at [email protected] and let me know about it. I’d like to send you some free materials to help you start your journey with Jesus.


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