A Christmas Gift

Do you know what I love, love about the sleeping mats we just made for those who are homeless?

They were made from grocery bags that have been used once, and then tossed away. Even all the new bags we received from Target had a defect and were considered to be of no value.

So we took those tossed away bags and gave them worth. We made them invaluable to someone who needs them and will appreciate them.

Plastic bags becoming a bed. Can you imagine?

They are given a new life, a second chance.

And the people who received them? These are people who have been tossed aside. Maybe they have a defect. Maybe someone has considered them to be of no value. Maybe they consider themselves of having no worth.

These people are Jesus’ favorite kinds of people!

Noah was a drunk. Abraham and Isaac sold their wives. Jacob was a liar. Joseph was abused. Moses stuttered. Gideon was afraid. Rehab was a prostitute. David was a murderer. Elijah was depressed. Isaiah walked around naked. Jonah was a coward. John the Baptist was weird. Peter had ADHD. Martha was neurotic. And Paul was just mean.

Jesus is in the business of second chances!

For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. – 2 Corinthians 6:2

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. – John 3:17

Jesus loves these people. Jesus sees their worth. They are precious to Him. They are His children.

This Christmas, Jesus said, “I have a gift for you.”

And He chose someone to collect some rejected bags that were of no good for anyone, and he found someone else to cut them in such a way that removed their defect. He selected someone who looped the plastic into a new form. And finally inspired someone to weave the new form into a new creation….

From a plastic bag to a bed!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. – 2 Corinthians 5:17

These mats are so brilliant because His message to those people who will lay their heads on these is this….

You have value. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8

You are important to me. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. – Psalm 27:10

I have given you a purpose. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. – John 15:16

You can do all things. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. – Philippians 4:13

You are loved! “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

MERRY CHRISTMAS, FRIENDS!

Our gift to you is the Good News of Jesus Christ, presented in the form of a plastic sleeping mat.

God Bless!