If you want to get that special someone in your life something really sacred for Christmas this year, buy them socks and underwear.

Hear me out on this.

I used to hate getting socks and underwear for Christmas. Each year my mom buys me a few fresh pairs of each.

It’s not a glamorous or exciting gift. It’s not a gift that is ever on my wish list.

But I desperately need them.

My socks and underwear get dirty. You see, I’m a guy. And according to this study that means I tend to keep my underwear for an average of 7 years, if not longer.

Now, I have moved past my younger days of wearing the same pair day after day. I do wash them in between wearings now.

But even I have to admit that’s gross. That’s longer than I keep a pair of jeans or a pair of shoes.

No matter what gender you are or what age you are or how cleanly you are – socks and underwear get dirty. They touch the nastiest, smelliest parts of your body day after day, year after year. There’s only so much soap and water can do.

This is why socks and underwear are such a blessed Christmas gift. Because I’m too proud to ask for those gifts, but my Mom buys them for me anyway. She knows I need them even when I don’t.

Every year my filthy rags get exchanged for fresh ones. Isn’t that what the arrival of Jesus does for our lives? 

With the arrival of our savior, the filthy rags we once wore are tossed aside. We are made clean, washed white as snow.

Most of the time we’re too proud to even ask for something clean. We stay attached to the dressings of our sins.

After all, they seem to fit well. We grow accustomed to them.

In the back of our minds we know how disgusting they are. But as long as we hide them underneath the surface, as long as no one gets a good look or smell of them, we can probably get by with still wearing them.

But just like a loving parent coming in on Christmas morning with a fresh set of Hanes, Jesus comes into the world at just the right time to make His people clean.

Even when we don’t deserve this gift, even we don’t ask for it, Jesus offers it when we need it the most.

Better yet, Jesus doesn’t just wash our old, dirty rags. He gives us new dressings. And not just once year. He clothes us in His finest linens anew each morning – the gift of a savior who knows what’s best for us, even when we take His present for granted.

So when you inevitably open that box of socks and underwear underneath your tree this year, try not to roll your eyes at this routine present. Take a moment to ponder the symbolism behind this gift you were too proud to ask for but desperately needed.

As your Mom wonders why you’re getting teary-eyed over a new set of boxers, let her know you now see these garments as one of the purest reflections of Christ’s expression of love.

Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow… (Isaiah 1:18)