“Sharing the Gift,” Ensign, December 2014, 74–75
Sharing the Gift
Find ways to share the gift of Jesus Christ this holiday season at christmas.mormon.org.
The greatest gift Heavenly Father offers us is eternal life—our life eternally joined with His, living the kind of life He lives (see D&C 14:7). But giving that gift required giving us His Only Begotten Son.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
And Jesus so loved the world that He suffered pain beyond our comprehension, allowed Himself to be crucified, and then rose from the dead to join His Father forever in glory. His sacrifice gifted to us the Resurrection unconditionally, as well as the possibility of eternal life if we accept the gift by giving Him our hearts and giving away our sins.
It’s Christmas, and at Christmas we celebrate these divine gifts by sharing gifts with one another: a scarf for Mom, gloves for Dad, a doll for Sister, a toy car for Brother. The gift is not what’s important. What is important is the giving, for the giving is really a gift of love.
Without doubt, the greatest gift of love we could give this holiday season—these holy days—is to share God’s gift with others. To help us do that, the Church launched a media initiative on November 28 titled “He Is the Gift.”
About this initiative, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “Christmas is a time of reflection on what we can become because of God’s sacred gift. As we discover the gift, we learn of the immeasurable love of God and our absolute need for a Savior. As we embrace the gift, we strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ and our desire to become more like Him. As we share the gift, we follow in the Master’s footsteps, who invited all to hear His message.”1
The initiative includes a new Church website, christmas.mormon.org. Among the information on the website is a powerful video titled He Is the Gift. Also on the site is content helping visitors to:
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Understand why the Savior is God’s greatest gift to mankind.
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Embrace that gift by following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
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Read inspirational stories of modern-day followers of the Son of God.
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Share the video and website with others.
The hashtag #ShareTheGift can be used to send people to the website. The video and website are available in 20 languages.
To help members share the message of God’s love this Christmas, the “He Is the Gift” initiative includes images and messages on social media that members can share (including a YouTube campaign on December 7 in the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil) and displays in most Church visitors’ centers to which members can invite interested friends. A major display will be on view at Times Square in New York City, USA. Sharing our beliefs about Jesus Christ in these simple ways will likely result in natural invitations to meet with the missionaries.
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encourages every member to “visit christmas.mormon.org to find inspiring content to help discover, embrace, and share the gift of God’s love for us, made manifest in His Only Begotten Son. By using the hashtag #ShareTheGift, we can sweep the earth with timeless—and timely—messages of the Savior Jesus Christ.”2