It’s morning, it’s early and it’s Christmas. Vanilla and ginger still adorns the air after a week of Mom’s baking. You step onto the floor that shivers with winter and snuggle into your cozy slippers before hurrying out of your room, down the hallway and into the living room where your family’s Christmas tree stands. Beneath it in brilliant bursts of gold and red and green with dashes of blue and flashes of white are wrapped presents—some of them for you, some for your siblings.
Each one of those presents contain a specific item, something special, purchased for you and for them. And the testimony of all those presents tells you something about the person that gave them. The presents convey a deeper level of information but no matter what that information, you have to unwrap the presents to grasp it.
If you unwrap the presents and find vipers and bombs you know the ill intent of the gift-giver. If you unwrap your presents and find chocolates and toys and game systems you know the good intent of the gift-giver. If you unwrap your presents and find something you desperately needed, didn’t know you wanted until you saw the present and realized it was perfect for you it tells you not only the intent of the gift-giver but how well they know you.
Similarly, if you ignored the contents of the gifts and focused on only the wrapping you ignore the point of the giving and perhaps even the giver. If you accept the gift but cast it to the side you reject the giver. If you pick and choose which presents are yours (stealing your siblings’ or tossing your own to the side) you’re denying the giver the full breadth of his or her giving. If you unwrap all of your presents, sigh and go back to bed you disparage the reason they were wrapped and ultimately reject the giver.
The Holiday tells the story, the wrapped presents convey information but that information isn’t fully received until it’s unwrapped to reveal the special gifts inside. All of those presents are there for a reason, wrapped with a purpose and given to be received unwrapped and examined.
Each book of the Bible contains a gift of special words, bundled together, within a context and an intended purpose. Each book carefully organized to convey meaning within that specific package. It might be for you…it might not be. The only way you’ll really find out is by reading the tag and seeing what it’s all about. The fact that it is contained in books automatically means that they’re to be received, unwrapped and understood.