Kerby Anderson
Now that Christmas is behind us, you may be thinking of any final gifts you might want to give to your church or Christian organizations. If you are listening to this right now, I would certainly recommend you support the radio station that is carrying this commentary. If you are reading it, you might follow the links to the platform that provides it.
The December issue of Outlook produced by the Point of View Radio Talk Show focuses on generosity. I wrote an article about “Generosity and Charitable Giving” by citing the research done by Professor Arthur Brooks in his book, Who Really Cares? He reminds us that Americans are givers. Professor Rodney Stark documents that Christians out-give the U.S. government in addressing global poverty.
One of the other articles was by David Green, founder of Hobby Lobby. In the excerpt from his book, Giving It All Away, he talks about his success and his decision to give the ownership of Hobby Lobby to God. He calls for Christians to give generously to churches and other ministries. We have had three generations of the Green family on my radio program. They have left a legacy of giving to ministries.
Another person we quote is Randy Alcorn, author of The Treasure Principle. He affirms “God’s full ownership of me (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and everything entrusted to me (Psalm 24:1). I recognize that my money and possessions are in fact His.” He does this in obedience because he desires God’s blessing (Malachi 3:6-12).
We learn in 1 Chronicles 29:12 that “both riches and honor come from God.” Deuteronomy 8:18 reminds us that God is the one “who gives you power to get wealth.”
As we come to the end of this year, please be generous as you give to God’s ministry here on earth.

Kerby Anderson
On this Christmas day, I think it would be good to reflect for just a moment on the Incarnation. God became man and took on human flesh. This is a great theological wonder and mystery.
Malcolm Muggeridge wrote this to describe the importance of the birth of Christ. “Thanks to the great mercy and marvel of the Incarnation, the cosmic scene is resolved into a human drama. A human drama in which God reached down to relate Himself to man and man reaches up to relate himself to God. Time looks into eternity and eternity into time, making now always and always now. Everything is transformed by this sublime drama of the Incarnation, God’s special parable for man in a fallen world.”
God reached down to us by sending the second person of the Trinity to earth to become part of the human drama and human dilemma. God stepped out of eternity into time to become part of the human community. What an incredible act of love and mercy.
God did not just come to dwell among us and comfort us. He came that He might raise us up through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Although we celebrate the birth of Christ today, we also look to the death and resurrection of Christ that we celebrate at Easter. Romans 5:8 proclaims: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 1 Peter 2:24 says that Christ “bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.”
On this Christmas day, we should pause to reflect on why Christ came to earth and what He did for us on the cross.