My Oolong Lesson

When our family lived in the USA in 2005, our family hosted a Chinese student who brought us some hand-picked green tea as a gift.  For me, that is what put loose tea on the map.  I would wake up early, put the kettle on, and drop about 10 tiny green balls of dried leaves in the bottom of my mug.  As I poured in the hot water, the dark green leaves floated to the top and slowly unfurled.  It always amazed me how big the leaves would grow, kind of like those tiny plastic dinosaur toys which absorb water and grow large.  It wasn't long before I had finished the tea.  I was never able to find the same brand or type of loose tea again, much to my disappointment.

This week our family went to a meal at a friend's house and I was offered a cylinder of unwanted tea our hosts had received as a door prize at a company gathering.  My eyes lit up as I examined the tea.  "It's supposedly good quality, but we won't drink it," I was told.  The red tin had a picture of women picking tea and all the writing was in Chinese characters.  As I opened the tin, I could see I hit the jackpot!  The vacuum-sealed gold foil wrapper appeared bumpy, stretched taut over the balls of dried leaves.  It was the same kind of hand-picked oolong tea that I had not been able to find for seven years.  Needless to say, every other hot beverage I occasionally drink has been put aside to enjoy cup after cup of the good stuff.

When you find something that is really good, it's hard not to talk about it with others.  On Australia day, our family enjoyed a BBQ at the home of some friends.  We started talking about tea and coffee and I started raving about this new tea I had found.  I quickly offered to give our hosts some tea to try.  Now as much as I want everyone to enjoy the tea, there is part of me that recognizes I have a limited amount.  There is that sinful, selfish part of me that says, "Hello?  What about me?"  As I filled a Ziploc bag with the tea, the LORD said softly to my heart:  "Freely you have received, freely give."  I put some more tea in the bag, nearly filling it.  As I sealed it, the flesh said again, "That's a lot of tea to give away.  Shouldn't you put some back?"  Again I felt the LORD confirm, "Freely you have received, freely give."  So I gave away some of the tea and felt great doing it.  The funny thing is I instinctively offered some more tea last night to a mate so I will be filling another bag.  But I got the message!  Freely I have received, freely give.

How awesome it is that God gives us freely all that we need out of His stores of grace!  There is nothing we have that God has not freely given us out of His generosity.  2 Peter 1:2-4 reads, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³ as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴ by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."  What has God given?  "All things that pertain to life and godliness," as well as "exceedingly great and precious promises."  God does not look at the promises He has given and later decide, "Those promises are a bit too good for these people and certainly too abundant.  I will withdraw some of these promises until people show they are worthy."  No!  God gives us all this and more still!

God has given us the Holy Spirit, His regenerating, empowering, guiding, and teaching personal Presence within us for the express purpose of assuring us of what He has given.  1 Corinthians 2:12 states, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."  We know that God will never leave us, forsake us, or rescind the grace, love, and acceptance granted us through Christ.  John 10:27-28 says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."  Sporting events, concerts, airplane flights, and hotels all have limited capacity.  But there is room in God's house for all who will repent and trust in Christ.  It is not "first come first served:"  it is the "last will be first, and the first will be last," and "...him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).

As excited as I can be about long lost tea which is quickly given away and consumed, I ought to be most excited about God and all He has freely given to me.  The blessings and promises of God are not to be hoarded or treated as privileged information intended for a few worthy folks:  God has provided His love and grace for the most unworthy, weak, blind, lame, imprisoned, selfish, helpless, hopeless, poor, and wretched sinners like me this world has produced.  Freely you have received, freely give.  What joy comes to those who hear the word of the LORD and do it!  God has freely given us all things, so we ought to give ourselves and all we possess back to Him with exceeding joy.