My kids got the Target catalog the week before Thanksgiving. I don’t know who gave it to them, but they immediately knew what to do with it. They grabbed a marker and went page by page, drawing circles around every toy they wanted for Christmas. 

For my 5-year-old, that meant simply circling every single toy. He was dumbstruck when I informed him that he would probably only get a couple of presents. This news sent my other two kids to prioritizing their circled gifts in order to help us out. 

Whether we meant it to happen or not, our culture has fully embraced “Gifts” as a part of the Christmas celebrations. Most families will give and receive gifts next week. So this year, our family has found some ways to talk about gifts in a way that points our hearts to Christ.  

We are able to use all of this gift-giving as an opportunity to talk about that first Advent. We can teach our families that the gifts of Christmas are a reminder of the greatest gifts ever. 

So as you give gifts and prepare your hearts for worship this Advent season, here are five biblical truths and five Bible verses that you can use for Family worship from December 21 – 25:  

God is the greatest gift-giver, and we daily receive His perfect gifts: 

• “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). 

God the Father gave us the greatest gift when He gave us His Son: 

• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). 

Jesus Christ gave His life for our sins: 

• “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (Galatians 1:3-5). 

Salvation is a free gift to those who believe in Jesus: 

• “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). 

God will give us all things needed for our joy and His glory: 

•  “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

As we give gifts this year, let us remember these Biblical truths. Perhaps every gift opened will be a subtle reminder of the greatest gifts received in the Lord. As Timothy Keller wrote, “The giving of gifts is a natural response to Jesus’ stupendous act of self-giving.”[1]

Jonathan Williams, Ph.D. (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the founder of Gospel Family Ministries, the author of Gospel Family: Cultivating Family Discipleship, Family Worship, and Family Missions, and the senior pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston, TX. He lives in Houston with his wife and three children.

[1] Timothy Keller, Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ (NY: Viking, 2016), 2.