Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.—James 1:17 (NIV)

I once heard of someone who refused to take down his Christmas tree so he could hold on to the spirit of the holiday. I get it. Every year I suffer from post-holiday blues. Putting away those decorations is the final step of letting go of Christmas. I’m never ready.

But this year a friend shared a wise observation. Even though the holiday has passed, the true gifts of Christmas—the ones Jesus brought—will stay with us forever. Her words reflect this truth:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17 NIV).

James reminds us that everything good comes from the Father. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and the good gifts He brought to our broken world (hope, peace, joy, and love). But there is another valuable gift from God that I have often overlooked: the gift of His Holy Spirit.

Of course, I’ve known about the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches He is a gift given to all saved believers (Acts 2:36-39). But knowing about Him is not the same as interacting with Him. For most of my Christian walk, I leaned on the Spirit to help me understand Scripture. But I didn’t walk or interact with Him in other ways. Without realizing it, I kept the gift of the Holy Spirit locked in a box of my limited understanding. 

The Apostle Paul spoke extensively about the Holy Spirit in his letters to the churches. For Paul the Holy Spirit was not a one-and-done gift believers received during their conversion. The Spirit stayed active in their lives. In fact as I read through Paul’s letters, I get the impression that Christians in the first century were very in tune with the presence of the Holy Spirit.

For instance, Paul reminded the Galatians, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25 NIV emphasis added). Paul and these early believers experienced a partnership with the Holy Spirit which produced these fruits: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22 NIV). 

The gift of the Holy Spirit isn’t only for those in the first century. Peter claimed this promise is for “all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39 NIV). Moving forward in this new year, my goal is to unlock this gift and take it out of the box. By studying Paul’s letters, I hope to understand what it means to live by the Spirit and to keep in step with Him. I hope you will join me in this journey as I share what I learn in future blog posts.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for the many good gifts you give us—not just at Christmas, but every day. Help us to understand the gift of the Holy Spirit and how He interacts in our lives. We are grateful for all of these gifts, and pray we use them for Your glory. We pray this in Your name. Amen.