Bringing Our Gifts
Bringing Our Gifts
“A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of the one who has it…”
Proverbs17:8
On Christmas Day, throughout the world, people focus on God’s gift of Christ, the Savior, to mankind. One hymn writer says: “Your life was given for me. What have I given for You?” We should all answer this question. The wise men brought their (adult) gifts early when Christ was still a Baby. Does God expect you and I to bring Him gifts too? Yes!! From as early as Old Testament days, Moses commanded God’s children to bring gifts to God in recognition of His goodness and love to them.
Yes, God not only expects us to give Him gifts; He is pleased when we bring them. So what gifts can we possibly give to such a God? His Word tells us. We can bring the gift of Faith – When we place our sincere faith in Jesus Christ, God is so pleased that He immediately accepts us as His children (Galatians3:26) and loves us exactly as He loves His Son (John17:23) Jesus admires Faith, so does God. In fact, God cherishes it so much that He counts it as “righteousness”. In 1Peter 1:7, we are told “the genuineness of your faith is more precious than gold…”
We can also offer gifts of Fellowship and Friendship to God. Throughout the Bible we see God reaching out to all people for fellowship with them. Abraham was called a “friend of God” and in 1Corinthians1:6, we “are called into fellowship with Jesus…” Jesus knew that He had to face the pain and suffering of the cross alone; He knew also that the victory was His, and yet in the final hours, He takes His disciples with Him into the Garden. He needed them there. When He found them sleeping, He asked the sad question: “What! could you not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40) As His disciples learnt to trust Him fully, He said: “I have called you friends…” (John 15:15) and then He proceeded to tell them the things that He had heard from His Father! – Things you share with friends.
Jesus also encouraged His disciples to commune with God, in His name, and God would surely respond to them.
We can certainly get close to God by placing implicit Faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We can have fellowship with God by taking time out to be alone with Him, by talking to Him in prayer and by listening to Him in Bible reading. We too can live so that Jesus can say to us: “I have called you friends.” When we give God gifts, we get so much more in return! Next week we’ll talk about two more gifts that we can offer.
Al Jones