The gift-swapping game doesn't work with God

  Did you ever play the present-swapping game at a Christmas party? Everyone gets a gift. People pick numbers (like from a hat). Then, in turn, each person has a chance to keep her own gift or trade with another.

 

It doesn’t really work that way with God’s gifts, does it?

 Here’s a personal example. Don’t laugh. OK, you can laugh a little, if you want to.

 As a young believer (and a much younger person), I was given one of those spiritual gift questionnaires. My results lopsidedly pointed to one of the gifts that tends to include a lot of homework. I retook the test a few times. I even looked up other versions of spiritual gift assessments, hoping to find the initial results were wrong and that I might have been granted what I then (wrongly) perceived would be a simpler gift.

 “Can’t I just have a spiritual gift that lets me simply show up and have God work through me on the spot?” I asked.  (I’m pretty sure God has a sense of humor.)

 

I guess it doesn’t actually work that way.

 No matter which spiritual gifts we are given, God expects us to study and train and prepare and walk daily with Him. The Lord may equip us on-the-spot for a ministry moment (such as a “word in due season”) or even a miraculous touch, but He still calls on us to do our homework.

• Is your gift discernment, evangelism, exhortation? Better open that Bible.
• Is it prophecy or healing? Gotta dig into the Scriptures.
• Mercy or service? All together now: Need to know the Word of God.

 God’s spiritual gift list goes on (See Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.), and each one brings personal responsibility for both training and availability.

 “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.  This is why it^] says: ‘When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.’” (Ephesians 4:7-8, NIV)

 Isn’t it intriguing to see how God fits His gifts to each individual? Sometimes they dovetail with people’s lifelong (and still God-given) talents. But a believer’s spiritual gift may seem like a stretch to him or her, until God performs His wonderful equipping. 

 “This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. ⁴ God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” (Hebrews 2:3b-4, NIV)

 Go ahead and trade those White Elephant or Yankee Swap gifts at holiday parties. That’s the point of those wacky items.

 But God’s amazing spiritual gifts are personalized, specialized, and individualized. They are tailor-made and targeted. They’re keepers.

 

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• Is the Christmas spirit fleeting? Or, What’s in your wallop?
• Simply Santa and the Savior
• Why do we give gifts for Christmas?

 
 

Feel free to follow on Twitter. Don’t miss the Heart of a Ready Writer page on Facebook. You are invited to visit my Amazon author page as well.

 

Image/s: Public domain photo/s

Why do we give gifts for Christmas?

 Strolling through a store recently, I spotted a banner that read: “It’s the season of giving.”

 That gave me pause. Sure, Christmastime brings out the giver in almost everyone. We enjoy picking out presents, wrapping them in pretty papers, and passing them out to loved ones. We enjoy seeing happy faces, as family members and friends open these parcels with surprise and delight.

 Don’t we all glow a bit when someone dear to us presents us with something special and treasured? Gifts are one of the “five love languages,” as articulated by Gary Chapman in his popular book by that title.  (By the way, I think there are more than five. For example, my love language is ice cream. Forgive me. I digress.)

 

What are your favorite gifts you’ve ever received for Christmas?

 It seems the most thoughtful gifts are personalized to the recipient. That doesn’t mean they’re monogrammed or imprinted. They just fit the person.

 Some of my most memorable gifts have been:

• Tickets to attend a show together
• Framed photo of a shared experience
• A photocopy of my mom’s devotional reader, including her margin notes (after she passed)

 Surely, you can add plenty of special gifts to that list.

 

Why do we give gifts at Christmas time, anyway?

 

 1)      The celebration started with the angels and the shepherds.

 The angels heralding the birth of Christ bestowed gifts of comfort and joy upon the shepherds by Bethlehem, known as the City of David. (See Luke 2 for the whole story.)

 Remember David, the shepherd boy who killed the Philistine giant with his slingshot and later became king?

Back to Bethlehem: These startled folks, guarding their herds in the night, were roused suddenly by an angel choir and instructed not to fear, but to go immediately and view the Holy Child. History indicates these particular shepherds raised special lambs exclusively for sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem. It’s no coincidence that they were chosen to visit the Lamb of God, who would become both the Good Shepherd and the Passover sacrifice for all of us.

 When we bless one another with Christmas cards and words of comfort and joy, we echo the angelic greetings on the night of our Savior’s birth.

 

2)      The magi gave gifts to Jesus.

 The gift-giving tradition goes way back to the wise men (or magi), who brought treasures to the Infant Christ. (See Matthew 2:1-12.) We may scratch our heads and wonder about those seemingly strange offerings, but they were both prophetic and practical. These items had well-known and important purposes at that time:

• Gold was traditionally given to recognize royalty.
• Frankincense was employed in divine worship. (Look up incense in the Old Testament.)
• Myrrh was used for anointing and for burial.

 Christian tradition holds that these gifts helped to finance Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt to escape King Herod's wrath. (See Matthew 2:13-15.)  Jehovah Jireh, the Provider, works in wondrous ways!

 When we give Christmas gifts, we commemorate the generosity of the magi to the incarnate Christ born to redeem us.

 

                                                Adoration of the Magi, Cornelis de Vos, early 17th Century

3)      We give because He has given to us.

 That’s Christmas in one line.

• We bless, because He first blessed us.
• We come to Him, because He first came to us.
• We are called to love, because He first loved us.

 

“We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19, NIV)

 

4)      Christmas is a big birthday party.

 We honor the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas Day. Sure, scholars of various sorts have long debated the actual date of Jesus’ birth. But for the rest of us, we choose to celebrate His nativity on December 25^th – and we are grateful for this indescribably wondrous gift all year long.

 

Related items:

·        Christ’s Nativity – Shepherds Are Awed

·        Devotion, a Dream and a Donkey

·        How to Make a Jesse Tree for Christmas

·        Incarnate and In-Person

·        Looking at a Light that Led

 

Feel free to follow on Twitter. Don’t miss the Heart of a Ready Writer page on Facebook. You are invited to visit my Amazon author page as well.

 

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God's spectaculars don't require spectacles

 

God is spectacular. It doesn’t take a pair of spectacles to see that. We need only to stop and look. He reveals Himself in numerous ways, particularly to those who seek Him.

 So why do we search for spectacular events and inexplicable happenings, as if we require God to perform earth-shaking miracles every time we present a need or ask Him to grow our faith? 

Can we leave it up to God to decide whether He’ll answer our prayers in front of a crowd or to an audience of a handful … or even just one?

 

God doesn’t need to make a spectacle of Himself.

In 2 Kings 5, we read about Naaman, an army commander of the king of Aram. He had leprosy, a painful, contagious, and probably ultimately fatal disease. Naaman went to see the prophet Elisha for help. Elisha sent him a message to go and bathe in the muddy Jordan River.

 Naaman flew into a rage when the prophet didn’t even bother to step outside to meet him face-to-face and perform the medical miracle he wanted (2 Kings 5:11):

 “But Naaman went away angry and said, ‘I thought that [Elisha] would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.’”

 Although he finally got a clue, Naaman’s initial response was to reject the prophet Elisha’s simple instructions. He seemed to suspect the order was beneath him to obey.

We might feel like throttling Naaman for his pride or stubbornness. But are we really all that different? Do we ever expect God to answer our prayers on our own terms, instead of His? Do we plead with God for dramatic and visible miracles, even though He may choose to answer in a quiet and private way? He may even humble us in the process, much like Commander Naaman, dipping into the murky river.

(Intriguingly, Jesus Himself went down into the same river about six centuries later, when He asked his cousin John to baptize Him. If the Jordan River was good enough for the Christ, it must have been good enough for Naaman.)

 God is God. Can we trust Him not only for His answers, but also for His methods?

 

God doesn’t need us to make a spectacle of Him (or ourselves), either.

 Numbers 20 recounts the incident of Moses and the Israelites at Meribah. The people had no water, and they complained to Moses. He and his brother Aaron went before the Lord to present the need. God told Moses to gather the people and speak to a certain rock to produce water. Moses took the Lord’s instructions too far, actually striking the rock. God caused water to flow from the rock, but He also reprimanded Moses for overstepping. As a result, Moses was not allowed to accompany the Israelites into the Promised Land (see Numbers 20:12).

 This sounds like a tough consequence for tapping the rock, instead of simply speaking to it and letting God turn on the tap (so to speak). And it’s difficult to ascertain Moses’ motivation or attitude in that situation. Could his action have included a desire to make the incident more dramatic? We can only guess.

 Still, the lesson may apply to us as well. When we pray, especially with and for others, do we add dramatic effects?  Do we seek to be seen? Do we ever try to steal God’s spotlight?

 We are called to be God’s ambassadors (see 2 Corinthians 5:20), not His circus ringleaders.

 Sure, God answers prayers in public and extravagant and gloriously eye-catching ways at times. Sometimes He draws people to faith by revealing His glory in striking ways. But He doesn’t need us beating on rocks or turning cartwheels or turning up the volume – unless He asks us to.

 

We don’t need spectacles (eyeglasses) to see God moving, but we may need spiritual vision.

 Miracles are awesome. God’s signs and wonders can be life-changing. But so can His quiet, private touches upon our own existences. Perhaps that’s why Jesus critiqued those who sought Him out for His miracles, more than for His heart.

Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?” (John 4L48, NLT)

 The One we follow is the all-powerful God, who delights in doing the impossible. It’s not wrong for us to seek His miraculous help in our times of need. But when He answers, we don’t need spectacles (for vision or for visibility). He’ll open our eyes to see His work in our lives. And He’ll draw those who need to hear and see and believe as well.

 

Related items:

• Arms up or up in arms?
• God’s best always flies past counterfeits that are merely good.
• New Year’s question: Spigot or sponge?
• Peace in the storm can only be God’s.

 
 

Feel free to follow on Twitter. Don’t miss the Heart of a Ready Writer page on Facebook. You are invited to visit my Amazon author page as well.

 

Image/s: Public domain photo/s