The most precious gift that we could give to others for Christmas is our “word.” To say to someone “I Give You My Word” is a Christmas gift that can be deeply experienced like no other. It can be one of the most sacred gifts you can give to a family member or friend.

We can all turn to someone dear to us during this Christmas Season who is physically or emotionally pained or both and say, “I give you my word. I will be there for you. I will support you. I will stand by your side.”

During this Christmas Season, we can all turn to someone who is troubled over employment, housing, or food insecurity. Someone deeply troubled over debt, retirement, a lingering illness, or feelings of uncertainty, loneliness, and isolation. We can turn to that person and say, “I give you my word. I am with you. I will be there when needed. You can count on me.” 

God’s Sacred Word

God gave us a sacred word like no other and Christmas is the sacred time during which we celebrate the giving of the word of God and the fulfillment of God’s word. “For no word from God will ever fail,” the angel Gabriel said to Mary (Luke 1.37).

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations (Isaiah 42.1)” is a prophetic reference to the word of God. Matthew wrote that Christ was the fulfillment of God’s word spoken through the prophet Isaiah (Matthew 12.18).”

Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens, cried the Psalmist (Psalm 119.89) and the prophet Isaiah declared, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever (Isaiah 40.8).”

The apostle Peter proclaimed, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you (1 Peter 1. 24-25).”

My Word as a Child

As a young boy, I knew that a sense of sacredness surrounded the utterance “I Give You My Word.” For as a young boy, I heard each Christmas that the good news is God had given us God’s word—Christ.

As a boy growing up, I began to sense more and more the seriousness of saying to someone “I give you my word” when I wanted to assure the person that I really meant that I was going to carry out the action that I just promised. Actually, it felt like I was giving more than assurance and a promise. It felt more like a vow.

As a boy, however, there were times when right after I emphatically said to someone “I give you my word,” that I can remember saying to myself, should I have said it? Now, I have to carry out the action that I promised. I now have no choice but to carry out my “word.” I want to but can I really do it?

My Word as an Adult

As adults, we can emphatically say to someone “I give you my word” and carry out the promise without hesitation out of a sense of sacredness. During this Christmas season, the good news is that someone can hear you say “you have my word.” I will be there for you. You can count on me. I will stand by your side.

After giving your sacred “word” to another, may you

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly . . .”
–(Colossians 3.16)–

and reflect upon, and internally echo, the following sacred words of God

My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty,
but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it
–(Isaiah 55.11)–

A Gift Like No Other

To look someone in the eye and unequivocally say “I Give You My Word” is a precious Christmas gift that may be deeply felt like no other.

And, may the most precious and deeply felt gift you receive this Christmas be hearing God say to you, upon giving your “word” to another, “(You are) my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight.”

The grass may wither and the flowers may fall but not your given word.