Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
12 12 2025
“The Gift You Already Are”
Imagine sitting beside a cozy fireplace on a cold December evening—tree lights glowing, the faint scent of pine in the air, a mug warming your hands. Christmas slows us down just enough to hear things our hurried hearts might otherwise miss. And maybe tonight, the thing God wants us to hear is simply this:
You are already a gift.
Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote, “What you are is God’s gift to you; what you become is your gift to God.”
There’s a whole sermon tucked right inside those few words,
But maybe tonight we just let the warmth of them sink in.
When Jesus came into the world as a baby, He didn’t come to improve the world’s opinion of itself. He came to reveal what God had always intended for His people—belovedness, value, worth. Christmas is God saying to the world, “You are worth My coming.”
And so, before we talk about what we might become,
Christmas invites us to pause and remember what we already are.
You are God’s idea.
You are God’s creation.
You are God’s beloved.
Paul writes that God “chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Long before Bethlehem, before shepherds and angels and songs in the night, God already had you in mind. If you could just take that in…It would change everything going forward!
Christmas means God stepped down into our world not because we had become something impressive, but because we were His…His gift, His delight, His children. Yep, even through all our imperfections, fetishes, and mistakes.
And maybe around the fire tonight, you’ll feel the tension between the gift you are and the gift you wish you were. Maybe life hasn’t unfolded as beautifully as a Christmas card. Maybe you feel a little worn, a little frayed at the edges, or a little lost. I know that is personally so true about my life.
But hear this: Do you have some family heirlooms, or keepsakes that were passed down from your parents or their parents that show some degree of wear after all the years?
Gifts don’t lose their value because they’ve been handled, dropped, or chipped.
They often become more treasured.
The gift you are, is not measured by your performance but by your Maker. I know most of you know that, but I want you to take that on a deeper level today.
At the same time…God loves us too much to leave us untouched. What we become is our response to His love. Christmas reminds us that God began a work in us that He intends to finish. The baby in the manger grew into the Savior on the Cross. And our own story follows the same divine arc: love comes, love transforms, love completes.
So tonight, maybe your “gift back to God” isn’t a grand achievement or a dramatic change. Maybe it’s something quieter—like Balthasar often emphasized—something hidden, ordinary, and humble. Maybe it’s a renewed yes to God, a small act of kindness, a whisper of trust, a tiny surrender.
Maybe your gift to God this Christmas is simply saying,
“Lord, here I am. Take what I am, and make of me what You will.”
The fire burns low. The tree lights flicker. And the God who crafted you leans close to say:
“You are My gift. And together, we are something beautiful.”
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