Over the years, especially during the Christmas season, “the gift that keeps on giving” has been used as an advertising gimmick for a number of products or services and even as a way to encourage donations to a charitable organization.

Sellers of diamonds, a chain of exercise studios for women, producers of nutrition capsules and tablets, makers of items ranging from a heated locker to deodorize athletic clothing to a mobile showroom to display electronic controls for a variety of gadgets, and supporters of the United Way have utilized the slogan nationwide.

Those gifts may give some brief pleasure or satisfaction but it may be an unadvertised special, Christians believe, that truly fits the bill as “the gift that keeps on giving.” You won’t find it under a brightly decorated tree, but what if the eternal God would offer to you — or anyone who would take it — a gift that lasts forever? Wouldn’t the criteria be met?

“Yep,” true believers would say. For verification, they point to Biblical passages such as Romans 6:23 which declares that “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

That mind-boggling idea bare of glitzy paper tied with fancy bows which you can tear aside and readily wear, play with or set on a shelf to admire is what this sacred season is all about in the eyes of Christians. And if you look deeply enough into the simple Christmas story familiar to all of us, the whole concept is there.

Even though some details of the account are uncertain or unknown and during long gaps in history the season was not celebrated publicly by many, the essential message has remained clear and substantiated to the satisfaction of Christians through the centuries.

The Bible gives no exact date or time of year when the birth of the babe of Christmas took place. Scholars are sure it did not occur in December. Most think the circumstances suggest it took place in the spring, probably late March or early April. A few would place it in late October.

While not a part of the actual event, the later appearance of the wise men adds meaning and clarification to the familiar story we’ve seen dramatized often in churches, schools, auditoriums, movies and on television. It is their bringing of gifts to the young child as their recognition of him as somebody special that led to the tradition of gift-giving during this season. Yet just who they really were and exactly what prompted their difficult journey is open to speculation.

Still, believers feel certain about Christmas being “the gift that keeps on giving.” In the name of the baby Jesus itself they see evidence of the gift of God himself appearing on earth in human form for a time in order that he could give up his innocent human life on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

That’s in the prelude to the story. The New Testament book of Matthew, when recounting how the Lord appeared to Joseph in a vision to assure him that Mary — despite her pregnancy — was still a virgin, records God’s directive that they were to name the baby Jesus (the Greek translation of the Hebrew name “Jeshua,” meaning “Jehovah [God] is salvation.”) Then God is quoted as explaining the reason for the name as “he shall save his people from their sins.”

(Matthew later equates the name of Jesus with Emanuel — Hebrew for “God with us” — as predicted by the Old Testament’s prophet, Isaiah, hundreds of years earlier).

Confirmation of God’s purpose at Christmas, Christians believe, is found in Biblical passages such as Ephesians 1:7, referring to Jesus the Christ (translated through the Greek and Hebrew to mean Messiah), “in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

That may seem quite a jump for some but for those who, through faith, have accepted God’s offer of forgiveness and the continued blessings of eternal life, that’s truly “the gift that keeps on giving” and the real story of Christmas, believe it or not.

Adon Taft, retired religion editor of The Miami Herald, taught social studies at Miami-Dade Community College.