"Packing" for Christmas

J.I. Packer often refers to himself as a "Packer by name," and a "packer by trade." He has a gift for profound theological insight and expression. This section from Knowing God (IVP, 1973) has always been one of my favorite (and oft-quoted) Packer passages:

“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear. . . . And the Christmas spirit ought to be the mark of every Christian all the year round. . . . For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor—spending and being spent—to enrich their fellowmen, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others—and not just their friends—in whatever way there seems need.”