Gifts of Grace
Gifts of Grace: 25 Advent Devotions
By: Jared C. Wilson
“Christmas is not about warm fuzzies; it is about the one who finally delivers on the promise of everything we acknowledge as good and true.”
Jared Wilson is one of the most encouraging authors. He is honest and transparent in his struggles yet always points us back to the gospel message that God is great in our weakness and our dependence and need for him is what qualifies us to come.
I loved his book The Imperfect Disciple and this devotional book is written with the same conversational, relatable, and hopeful tone.
As you can see from the cover, each of this book’s 25 reflections is an opening of a gift just like an advent calendar.
“Every day, we will open up a little door to rediscover one of the myriad gifts Christians receive through the coming of Christ and belief in his gospel… one amazing grace after another.”
These gifts range from faith, love, and hope to justification, expiation, sanctification, vindication, and more. I thought this was a really great and effective way to structure his book. It kept every day easy to understand but also deep in theology.
I also loved that each reflection was titled with a line from a Christmas carol. Christmas carols are some of the most theologically rich hymns. Because we are familiar with them and associate them with Christmas they can become rote and we don’t really take in the words we are singing.
This book not only reveals the gifts of grace we have in Christ, but also reminds us that the songs we sing at Christmas contain deep truths. It would be a great way to do additional study while reading it— to go through the corresponding hymn verse by verse and see the meanings we miss.
Yes, this book would be a great option to read through the month of December, but I also think it’s a good book to read AFTER Christmas. If it’s just going to be another ‘Christmas thing’ to mark off in anticipation of Christmas, I would say wait on it. Hold off on reading it until January or February.
Because, really, we’re still in advent— in anticipation— of Christ’s coming. He has come and he will come again. This book is not just relevant in December. It’s relevant every day as we await the return of our King.
And perhaps the truths of this book will hit differently when you’re not in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. It may help get your heart re-centered for the new year where you can look for the gifts of grace that we open every day we wake up.
A Few Quotes
“When the world hopes, there is the prospect of unfulfillment. The world “hopes” something will happen, but they know it might not. That’s not how God’s people hope. Our hope comes with assurance (Heb 11:1), our hope abides (1 Cor 13:13), and our hope will “not put us to shame” or disappoint us (ROM 5:5)… Our hope is in God! In fact, our hope is God!”
“We must be honest about the severity of our condemnation apart from God’s grace, because the good news will only be as good as the bad news is bad.”
“Our justification takes something slightly more out of reach than human ingenuity. It takes faith. And this is one reason why I know Christianity is true—we wouldn’t have made this up! Salvation by faith makes too little of us and so much of God.”
“The Christmas story holds the promise of glorification out to us because it tells us that God took on our image, that we might someday take on his. We will reflect him beautifully and eternally on a new earth restored according to his glory.”
“The Christmas Eve gospel is that while all the stuff and the experiences and the feelings might go away moment by moment, the incarnate Christ is real, he is alive, and he is doing work inside of our hearts that will make us thrive when we’re weary, hope when we’re grieving, and even rejoice when we’re suffering.”
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