3 Gifts Jesus Gives The Lost And Lonely At Christmas

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Revelation 3:20-21, ESV

These weeks leading up to Christmas haven’t been what I expected. In fact, they’ve been a little harder than most.

My family is dealing with health issues, and we’re getting very few answers or results.

Work is a little crazy with this season of sales and gift-giving driving more traffic than usual into our bookstore.

I feel a little lost, a little hurt, and a little lonely.

Christmas has a funny way of bringing pain and joy together as one. We ache over loved ones that we’ve lost, over circumstances we never asked for, and healing that remains just outside our reach.

That’s exactly the heart to which today’s passage speaks. If you’re aching, hurting, lost, or lonely, today I’d like to share three gifts Jesus has for you in today’s passage.

Gift #1: Invitation

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

I love the imagery of this passage—of Jesus standing and knocking. He doesn’t come knocking as a salesman or as the UPS man to drop a package and run.

He is there for relationship.

This image isn’t only presented to nonbelievers. It’s given to a church that is described as being neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm (Revelation 3:15).

Lukewarm, according to Jesus, is worse than being cold toward him. It’s like sitting on the fence between being against God and being completely sold out to him. It is described as having a heart of self-sufficiency—the belief that we don’t need Jesus in our daily lives (Revelation 3:17).

Lukewarm is an easy place to find ourselves when life gets painful. We go through the motions because that’s all our wounded hearts can handle. We’re not ready to walk away from God altogether, but we’re also not a fan of what he’s allowed our circumstances to look like.

Yet it is to the lukewarm who Jesus offers the invitation to.

Rather than leaving the lukewarm heart to its own devices, he comes and invites us into relationship and intimacy.

Gift #2 Intimacy

“If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.”

When we choose to invite him in, he doesn’t just come in and plop down on the couch to watch TV. He sits with us at the table.

There is something so intimate about sharing a meal with someone—about being those two feet across from each other with the ability to look into each other’s eyes. Barriers come down around a table filled with good food. Conversations have the opportunity to go deep. People linger.

We will find no better relationship than the one we enter into with Jesus. He is a master at meeting us where we’re at and inviting us into deeper intimacy with him. It doesn’t require much more from us than simply sitting down with him at the table.

Gift #3 Victory

“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

Once we’ve let Jesus into our hurting hearts and messy situations, and enter into intimacy with him, that is where we find victory.

As I was studying this passage, I found myself asking what exactly Jesus means when he says, “to the one who conquers.” What conquering needs to be done?

The Amplified Bible adds a little more understanding here: “He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant to him [the privilege] to sit beside Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down beside My Father on His throne.”

The one who overcomes the world does so by believing in Jesus the Son of God.

To overcome the world, to be victorious, means that while we live here, we do not live for what the world lives for. We live for Jesus. We live with Jesus. But we also wait for the second advent when He will return just as he promised and set the world right.

We are victorious because He is victorious.

That is a reason to hope this Christmas.

Even in the midst of feeling distant from the Lord, feeling lonely, or facing a very painful season, Jesus comes near. He comes near and invites us into relationship; he offers intimacy and makes way for victory.

Author: Jazmin N. Frank from jazminnfrank.com