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.

 

Related items:

• All good gifts come from God – 30 days of thankful Scriptures
• Here's a gift, lady. Now, don't use it.
• 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.

 

Image/s:

Public domain artwork/photos