Every year some Christmas gifts remain unopened.  They are lost and/or forgotten in the holiday hustle, buried under discarded wrapping paper, accidentally tossed with the trash.

So what is the most commonly unopened Christmas gift?  You would think it would be one of the smaller gifts like jewelery or ink pens, which could be easily misplaced in the under tree rubble.  However, valuable, treasured gifts, no matter how small, usually survive the Christmas morning mayhem.

The gift that is often lost and unopened during Christmas unwrapping sessions is the actual Presence of Jesus Christ.  One of His names, Immanuel, even means:  God with us.

Very much like the invisible air that keeps us alive, our conscious awareness misses the gift of the amazing, life-transforming Presence of Jesus.  He is ignored at what we humans have, with much hoopla, dubbed His birthday celebration with the bold moniker, Christmas.

What a shame!  We use His name (Christ*mas) but miss His glorious gift — “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

As this Christmas fades into memory, why not open God’s gift of Jesus Christ?  Experience His healing Presence.

Need help?  Come visit a place where Christ’s Presence is so real you can feel Him — a place where normal, everyday people show and tell what Jesus has done and is doing in their lives:  The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, 225 Berry St., Nashville, TN, 37207 — Sundays @ 10:45 am.