A Gift for Messiah: A Christmas Story for the Wintry Heart

Eliah’s heart, broken and deeply scarred from wounds long ago, was as cold and as hard as the hillside on which he slept. And left to himself, he would have kept it that way—a heart of stone, after all, feels no pain. But on this night, he would not be left to himself.“...Joshua would not put away his talk. ‘And you, Eliah Ben Elam?’ he went on. ‘What would you offer Messiah should he come before the dawn?’ Eliah raised himself as if to scold the youth for his impudence, but stopped suddenly, just as the harsh words were coming. He glared beyond the boys, beyond the hills toward Bethlehem, and thought for a long moment, searching. Then he said heavily, “I have nothing left for Messiah. For he has already taken everything from me.’” Eliah’s heart, broken and scarred over long ago, was as cold and as hard as the frozen hillside on which he slept. And he would keep it that way—a heart of stone, after all, feels no pain. But on this night, his calloused heart would collide with something much harder, much stronger: a crying infant determined to remake the world.A Gift for Messiah points us to the heart of the Christmas message: that Christ came to give us life, to remake the world one new heart at a time.