It’s official!

Today, December 19, we are just seven days away from…the start of the gift return line! Consider:

• Around 1 in 6 Christmas gifts will be taken back to stores.
• Approximately 1 in 3 three U.S. adults will make a return or exchange this Christmas season.
• 18-24 year-olds are five times more likely to return a gift than those 55 and up.
• Every year, Amazon returns cost the company more than $800 billion!

We have a friend who is famous—or maybe infamous—for all her shopping returns. At least one store has placed her on a No-Fly list. She now sends her husband to make her returns!

When you think about it, we all have stuff we wish we could "send back." I'm not talking about tools or, ties or toys. I'm thinking of:

• The hateful thing you wished you’d never said.
• The divorce you never wanted.
• The choices you regret every day of your life.

Where’s the line you stand in to take back those things?

What if I told you there is such a line? It begins at a manger in Bethlehem and tracks all the way to a cross in Jerusalem.

The fact is, the baby born at Christmas grew up to be the Savior of the world. He died on the cross to take away your failures, sins, and selfish living.

Jesus is the only One who can take the broken pieces of your world—your heart—and put them back together. Notice, I’m not talking about religion. I’m talking about a relationship with Jesus Christ. He said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

If you’re tired of living under the crushing weight of regrets that never leave—receive the ultimate gift this Christmas: salvation through faith in Jesus. The Bible says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Come to Jesus now. Admit your failures. Claim His forgiveness. Make Him the leader of your life—your Savior. If you ask Him, He will change your life and help you turn away from self-focused living.

And if you already know Christ but still find yourself laboring under regrets of all kinds, go back to Bethlehem and be reminded of the angel’s message to Joseph: “You shall name him Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” That includes yours. All of them!

Merry Christmas!