“The Greatest Gifts of Christmas,” Liahona, December 2021
The Greatest Gifts of Christmas
By Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
What gift can we give our Savior for all He has done for us?
Photographs from Getty Images
Christmas has always been a special time for me. A time for loving. A time for giving. A time for remembering.
I remember the rich, centuries-old Christmas traditions of Czechoslovakia that awed me as a very young child. I remember the candle-lit Christmas trees, the handmade gifts, the smell of festive preparation. I remember the beautiful carols and majestic organ music that brightened the dark streets of Zwickau in East Germany. I also remember the humble attic our family crowded into after we had fled for a second time from perilous situations and started a new life in West Germany after World War II.
As I look back with heartache and joy, perhaps what I remember most about Christmastime is the love my family had for each other, how we loved and accepted the restored Church of Jesus Christ, and how we loved the Savior.
As Christmas again approaches, I am reminded of words President Russell M. Nelson recently shared regarding our focus during the Christmas season: “There is nothing more important we can do this Christmas than to rivet our focus on the Savior and on the gift of what His life really means to each of us.”1
I am also reminded of President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994), who was assigned to succor members of the Church in Germany following World War II. “Through the God-inspired welfare program, he literally fed the hungry, comforted the weeping, and lifted closer to heaven all with whom he met.”2
Years later, President Thomas S. Monson (1927–2018) referred to that event at a dedication service in Zwickau. At the meeting, an elderly Church member approached him and said: “Please tell President Benson that we love him. He saved our lives: mine, my wife’s, my children’s, and many, many others.’ He was as an angel sent by God to literally restore to us hope and confidence in the future.”3
Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends, there is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, to follow such examples and rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus the Christ. It is always the right time to love the Lord our God with all our heart—and our neighbors as ourselves.
It is well to remember that “he who gives money gives much, he who gives time gives more, but he who gives of himself gives all. Let this be a description of our Christmas gifts.”4
Focus on His Life
Much of the world celebrates Christmas, but as disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, we have made a covenant to “always remember him” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79). At Christmas, we find it especially easy to focus on the Christ child who became our Savior and King.
We focus on Jesus Christ as we rejoice in His birth. We celebrate with family and friends the “good tidings of great joy” (Luke 2:10). We listen to sacred music heralding His coming to earth. We read the scripture record of His birth in Matthew, Luke, and 3 Nephi. We bear testimony that Jesus is the prophesied Immanuel, born of Mary, who “wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7; see also Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14).
We focus on Jesus Christ as we study and embrace His teachings. We try to become meek and merciful, peacemakers and pure in heart, forgiving and faithful. We become slow to judge and quick to pray and forgive. We treat others as we wish to be treated. We seek the “good fruit” that comes from divine doctrine. We “do the will” of our Father in Heaven.5
We focus on Jesus Christ as we follow His perfect example. He taught us how to love, share, and invite by serving, obeying, praying, sacrificing, and enduring.
Like Jesus, we seek opportunities to bless God’s children as we go “about doing good” (Acts 10:38; see also Matthew 5:16). We emulate His example of obedience to the Father as we recommit to live by the word of God and renew our efforts to keep His commandments (see John 14:15).6
We accept His invitation to “come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21). We invite our fellow citizens of the world to come and see, come and help, come and belong, even when we face persecution, temptation, or tribulation.
Focus on His Gifts
The gift of what the Savior’s birth and life means to us finds its fulfillment in the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Savior trembled because of pain, He bled at every pore, He suffered both body and spirit (see Doctrine and Covenants 19:18). His sacrifice for all of God’s children and His victory over sin and death constitute a great gift. To understand that priceless gift, we need to take time to ponder the Savior’s Atonement and what it means to each of us.
Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we know we can find rescue from remorse. We know we can change, improve, and overcome. We know we can repent of our sins and be forgiven. And as we exercise faith unto repentance, we know that the demands of justice are satisfied (see Alma 34:16).
“Repentance is a resplendent gift,” said President Nelson. “It is a process never to be feared. It is a gift for us to receive with joy and to use—even embrace—day after day as we seek to become more like our Savior.”7
Because of the Christ child, we received the divine gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Because of this gift, we can find grace and guidance. We can make sense of suffering. We can find peace, “not as the world giveth” but as the Lord grants unto us (John 14:27).
Wrongs can be made right. Burdens can be made light. Because of Jesus Christ’s infinite sacrifice, we can find liberating hope.
And what is it we may hope for?
Mormon answers: “Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him” (Moroni 7:41).
The Savior’s Atonement and Resurrection make possible the greatest of all gifts of Christmas: life everlasting (see Doctrine and Covenants 6:13; 14:7).
No wonder we sing, “Joy to the world.”8
Our Gift to Him
With the Apostle Paul, we declare, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
But what is our gift in return?
The gift He asks of us cannot be bought with money. We will not find it in an online store. We cannot ask someone to make it for us. We cannot leave it under the Christmas tree.
What the Savior asks of us is our heart.
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part,—
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.9
To give Him our heart, we need to first accept His help. Giving the Savior our whole heart means coming unto Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit of repentance (see 3 Nephi 12:19). Only then can we fully receive His gift of the Atonement and qualify for God’s gift of eternal life. As we willingly repent, we show our love and gratitude for God’s gift and for the Savior’s sacrifice in our behalf.
When Jesus Christ makes our hearts whole again, our joy is full. And when our joy is full, we want to share this singular experience of love, peace, and hope with all of God’s children. We want to serve God and our fellow men and women. And we want to offer to all the most precious gift ever given, even “the bread of life” (John 6:35) and the “living water” (John 4:10).
As we make the Savior and His supernal gift to us the center of our life this Christmas season and always, we will declare to the world with joy and solemnity that the life of Christ “neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary.”10
All who accept His loving gift will never hunger or thirst. They will find rest unto their souls (see Matthew 11:29) and rejoice with all their heart and soul that “the Lord is come.”11
This Christmas season and throughout the year, may we receive and give the greatest gifts of Christmas.