I don’t know what gift (or gifts?) you were eager to get for Christmas – and I hope I’m not the first one to break this to you – but Christmas is over. There still may be some hope if you celebrate Three Kings Day, but when the Christmas season is over, so are the gifts.

If that doesn’t dampen your spirits, this will. Even if you got all the things you expected to get at Christmas, what you received will eventually wear out or just lose its thrill. Maybe at some time in the past, you were reminded of that truth. You discovered some long-forgotten gift you had stored away because you no longer cared about it. You might even have smiled to yourself as you thought back to how excited you were when you first got it.

The same thing is often true about other things we expect will bring lasting happiness into our boring everyday lives. Have you ever felt that you needed better things out of life? At least, you want more than what you have found so far. Maybe you can look back at things, or even at relationships, that at one time you thought would make your life more exciting. That didn’t happen, and you wound up being very disappointed.

Some people think that if the gift were just expensive enough, it would have amazing results. Who, for example, wouldn’t want to get some gold coins as a gift? After all, there are some very good reasons that gold is precious.

Here are the three reasons why gold is so valuable. First, it is rare; second, it is durable; and third, it is beautiful. Take away just one of those three things, and gold would not be very valuable. For example, if someone discovered a way to manufacture a lot of real gold very inexpensively, it would no longer be rare. It would lose its value.

You and I may never possess much gold, but let me tell you about something I have found, and something you can have, that is even more valuable. It actually calms our anxious hearts. It never loses its thrill. It is the gift of the first Christmas, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. God the Father offers Him to those who repent of their sin and embrace Him as a gift that is more valuable than all the gold in the world.

Let me show you why Jesus is so valuable.

The Bible tells us that Jesus (God in human flesh) is supremely rare because He is the only one of His kind. He is unique. As Moses put it, “Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11) “For this reason, You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (2 Samuel 7:22). There is only one true God.

We also know that God is valuable because He is so durable. Actually, He is the only one who has always existed. “But You, O Lord, are on high forever” (Psalm 92:8) God has no beginning and no end. Jesus declared, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, [i.e. the A to Z] … who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). He never wears out. He never breaks down. He never goes away.

God is also valuable because He is beautiful. “The Lord is high above all nations; His glory [beauty] is above the heavens.” (Psalm 113:4) “Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven” (Psalm 148:13).

God is so magnificently beautiful, that there are special angelic creatures who constantly hover around God’s throne and cry out, “…Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

God is the only gift that keeps on giving. When we surrender our lives to Christ, we will “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. [Then we will] give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:4–5).

Here is a great way to start off the New Year. Get out that Bible and begin a journey to find out for yourself how wonderful and beautiful God really is. The Gospel of John is a great place to begin reading. We would love to have you visit us at Bethel Chapel Church. Our mission is to continue learning more and more about our Lord Jesus. We have found His way to lasting happiness, and we’re excited to share it with others.