Christmas is getting expensive! If you’re feeling the squeeze in your Christmas shopping this year, look no further, because the best gifts that you can give this year are free! At this price, you can treat everyone you love, and yourself too. In this last Radical Stewardship™ blog of the year, I count down the top five free Christmas gifts that you can give to others and to yourself in 2025.

#5: Proclaim! Christmas Musicale Video by Word of Life Fellowship

Share the experience of a powerful celebration filled with drums, horns, dancing, choir performances, and a brand-new original composition created just for this year’s production! From littles to adults, every generation came together in this small, mountain church in Mi-Wuk Village, California, to proclaim the birth of Jesus in a vibrant, joy-filled Christmas celebration. Spend a cozy evening gathered together with the whole family enjoying this incredible production. It’s the best holiday special you’ll watch this year! Watch it on You Tube.

#4: Daily Bible Video Series by Spirit School of Ministry

Do you spend time in the Word every day? Does that time feel clear, life-giving, and consistent? For a limited time, Spirit School of Ministry is giving away its Daily Bible Videos for FREE! These are the same short teachings that shape the school’s students in their walk with God, unfolding the Scripture one day at a time. These videos will help you build a steady rhythm of communion with your God. This is the perfect tool to help you read through the whole Bible in a year and see Jesus on every page! FREE OFFER ends January 7.

#3: Something Thoughtful From The Heart

Are holiday prices getting you down? Does the commercial aspect of Christmas make shopping feel like just another chore? Skip the stores and think about the gifts and talents that God has given you and how you might use them to bless the ones you love. Are you a poet? Write a personal poem and wrap it in a unique frame. Do you sing, play an instrument, or write music? Compose a special song and perform it for the person, then gift them with a video or audio recording so they can listen any time they want. Are you a visual artist or photographer? Are there crafts you enjoy? Are you a magician in the kitchen? The possibilities are as varied as each of our individual giftings from God, and all of these ideas say “I love you” so much more authentically than anything you can buy in a store.

#2: Time With You

We all have that one person in our life who is impossible to shop for. Maybe it seems like they already have everything, maybe their taste is very particular, or maybe they just don’t want any more “stuff.” There is one thing that each of us has that our loved ones appreciate anew each time we share it, and that is our time. Meaningful conversation over a cup of coffee, laughing together at a comedy show, meeting up for a long walk in nature or a stroll along the beach, learning to make something new together at a cooking class, shooting hoops at the local basketball court, creating a masterpiece at a paint and sip – all of these are opportunities to share your time in a way that deepens your relationship and creates memories that will resonate more than any physical gift.

#1: Jesus

This is by far the greatest gift of the season, and God gave it to YOU! This gift is absolutely free. You don’t have to do anything to earn it, and you can never lose it. Before that first Christmas, we were in a real mess. When the very first humans turned away from God, all humanity lost our connection with Him. Ever since that time, we’ve been trying to reconnect with God by doing everything right, on our own – an impossible task at which we were failing miserably. No matter how hard we tried, we just couldn’t be all that God created us to be. We couldn’t fix ourselves, and we had no power to reconnect with Him.

Then God gave us the best Christmas present that ever was given. He met us right here where we are. As fully God and fully man, a small baby was born among us and grew up into a man who accomplished all that we, in our fallen state, couldn’t. As fully man, Jesus fulfilled everything that was morally right, on behalf of all mankind, taking all of our screw ups and hard-heartedness onto himself, and even taking on death, to give us the chance at an eternally blessed life as God originally intended it to be. And as fully God, Jesus reestablished the connection between man and God through the gift of Holy Spirit, bridging the chasm that gaped open so long ago when Adam walked away to try it all on his own.

Sickness? Jesus took care of that. Depression and anxiety? Yep. Addiction? That too. Inordinate affections and identity questions? Those too. Guilt and shame? Absolutely. He even took care of pride, the sin that got us all into trouble in the first place. Does this mean that we never experience those things? No. But it does mean that when we tap back into our connection with God, which we can now do, thanks to what Jesus Christ did for us, we have the power to overcome those things, and we have the promise of eternal life as God intended us to enjoy it from the beginning.

If you haven’t yet received this most precious Christmas gift, I invite you to receive it this Christmas. It’s easy, and it’s free! Romans 10:9 states that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Not sure if you believe this? That’s okay – in fact, acknowledging that you’re unsure is better than just saying you believe when you’re not sure that you do. I encourage you to connect with a friend or a pastor at church near you who can answer your questions and walk you through it. Or, feel free to reach out to me directly here. I’d be more than happy to walk with you.

If you have already received this gift yourself, think about who you know that you might share this most precious gift with this Christmas. There is no better gift you can give to someone you love than to introduce them to the God of love, who loves them more than even you do! Not sure how to approach them? Start with approaching God in prayer. Ask Him to open a door and to show you how best to speak into this person’s life with a message that touches their heart and stirs their spirit. Give it to God and watch what He will do!

In this last post of 2025, I wish you and those you love a very merry Christmas. May God bless and prosper all that you set your hand to in 2026!