In Romans 12:1-2, Paul urges us to give our bodies to Jesus as a living and holy sacrifice and not to be squeezed into the mold of the world, but to allow Christ to make us more and more like Him every day.
Keeping your body and mind pure is a gift that pleases Jesus today.
In Matthew 25:40, Jesus profoundly promises that when we give money or gifts of time to the poor, the lonely, the hurt or the downtrodden, we are in reality giving gifts to Him. Imagine how you’ll feel when you get to Heaven and you see the mentally disadvantaged child from the old neighborhood you grew up in, the starving child from Cambodia, or the financially disadvantaged inner-city child from East St. Louis there to greet you in Heaven with a huge smile and an eternal thank you because you gave them love, food, time, attention and through that gift they saw the unmistakable witness of Christ in you.
Your trip to the Star of Bethlehem begins every morning when you wake-up and consider the needy people around you. Getting to the manger is a lot easier than you think! A piggy bank on your breakfast table for savings to give to a helpless family, a smile and a kind word every day to the unloveliest person at work, a monetary gift to your favorite charity, a missionary trip to Guatemala are a precious few ways to get to the manger. The roads to Bethlehem are endless. The rewards for getting there are indescribable.