Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Monday, December 19, 2011

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"¹

Joy, my wife, wrote how, "For several years our family vacationed every year at Christmas time in Mexico. We always took individually wrapped candy canes to give to the local children. One Christmas morning I had taken the bus to attend a Christmas church service. After the service, while waiting for the bus to arrive, I saw a very poor looking, unkempt little girl and greeted her saying, 'Feliz Navidad' (Merry Christmas) and gave her a candy cane.

"A few minutes later, I felt someone tugging on my skirt and turned to see this same little girl smiling as she handed me a walnut! My first thought was, 'I can't accept this walnut from her as it may be all she had received for Christmas.' However, I thought of the true meaning of Christmas which is giving, so I accepted her valuable gift. I got back to the beach where my family members were and was so deeply touched by this poor little girl's precious gift, I cried. I still have the walnut and every year tell the story now to my grandchildren—and we still cry.

"I treasure this gift from a poor little girl who gave me all she had out of the abundance of her loving heart."

At this Christmas season we are again reminded that Jesus gave his very all that we might be forgiven of all our sins and given the gift of eternal life—the greatest Christmas gift anyone could ever receive.

Jesus has this gift of forgiveness and eternal life for you, too, dear reader, so if you haven't accepted it, be sure to do so at this Christmas season. For help, be sure to read "How to Be Sure You're a Christian" at: http://www.actsweb.org/christian.

And may you and I, like the little Mexican girl Joy wrote about, always give out of the abundance of a loving and grateful heart.

Suggested Prayer; "Dear God, thank you that you gave out of the abundance of your loving heart the greatest love gift in all the world—the gift of your Son, Jesus, to come to earth as a baby to live and die for my sins so that I could be given the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. And thank you, Jesus, for all you have done for me. Because you died for me, help me to live for you and always give to you and others out of a loving, grateful heart. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Matthew 19:14 (NIV).

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