Jesus is a gift that comes with instructions.

Published: Dec. 30, 2018, 10 a.m.

We’re right to expect big things out of Christmas. Unfortunately, we often look for those things in all the wrong places. Just like he did at the first Christmas, God often gives us these blessings “undercover.” He puts his best gifts in the last place we’d expect to find them - like in a manger. Today we see how Jesus began his work as our Savior. Normally a great deliverer expects service and obedience from those he comes to deliver. However, Jesus came to be tempted like and obedient for the very people he came to save. Through his submission to his Father’s perfect law, we are welcomed as brothers and sisters into God’s family.