Value God's Gifts

Christmas is a wonderful celebration of the best gift ever given:  Jesus Christ.  He has brought forgiveness, eternal life, and liberty to all who believe.  All in this life we love and appreciate is a gift from God who graciously loves us.  The things God gives are beyond price.  Family, relationships, and a joyous future cannot be earned or be bought with money.  We can trade these things for money and stuff, but that is another post.  The question is, do we appreciate the value of what God has given us?

Placing value on gifts is very subjective.  There are gifts we appreciate more than others, perhaps because of the monetary resale value.  We can value gifts which were not expensive at all but show care and thoughtfulness of others toward us.  I have kept many gifts which have no monetary value at all but treasure them because they were given to me by a loved family member who has passed away.  Our memories of people can be perpetuated in little reminders like birthday or Christmas cards.  Other times we appreciate a gift because it is better quality than we would buy for ourselves.  And then we value gifts which are so useful or practical we wonder how we lived without it!

When it comes to gifts from God, some of these reasons for thanksgiving and appreciation are relevant.  The gifts God gives are beyond price and therefore are not for resale or trading in.  I would also say if we view spiritual gifts or priceless promises of God with a sentimental lens, this is indicative of a break of relationship with God.  Since we are to be in a presently growing, vibrant relationship with God, sentimental feelings likely suggest we are mourning current distance between us and God.  The gifts God gives are intensely practical, for there is no life apart from Him.  God gives us little reminders all the time of His presence and care for us.  We should treasure these.  How often God has given gifts better than we could have ever imagined!  Let us repent when we have treated gifts from God as common things.

Cards and heartfelt notes are commonly displayed for a season and then filed away or recycled.  Christmas and birthday gifts are used for a while and then can collect dust.  They were appreciated for a while, but for whatever reason lose their lustre.  Is it possible the gifts God gives us are treated in similar fashion?  Or is there found in us a heart of appreciation and gratefulness, remembering God's grace and thanking Him for the good gifts He has given?  It is good for us to maintain good works using the talents and gifts God has provided.  How healthy it is for us to do personal inventory, acknowledging what God has already given us.  We don't need to be afraid of being left out, for it is God's good pleasure to give the sheep of His flock the kingdom (Luke 12:32).  God gives us many things we can only use rightly when we give them back to Him.  I think of the twenty-four elders throwing their crowns at the feet of the Lamb.  That's the perfect response for Christians when we receive authority, wealth, and gifts from God

What is more practical than love, acceptance, and eternal life?  That's what God has given to us, and may our lives be a revelation of all this and more to others for the glory of God.

The Successful Soul

One thing I love after worshiping God with song is how a particular tune or lyric later will reverberate through my mind.  I often find myself unwittingly singing the song long after the service has ended.  Hailing from Southern California, it seems fitting to call this effect a "worship aftershock."  Experiencing communion and fellowship in the presence of God is a blessing beyond words.

I have found when I am impacted by something it tends to be rehearsed in my mind.  For example, these memories could be a scene from a movie, a statement a person makes during a conversation, or a quote from a book I am reading.  If I can watch a movie without later reflecting on it or after reading a book no specifics high points come to mind, it obviously had little impact on me.

There was a quote of J.C. Ryle in Zeal Without Burnout by Christopher Ash which did stick with me.  Ryle said concerning "successful" Christian ministry as it appears in Zeal Without Burnout:

"Success is what all faithful labourers in the gospel field desire...All long to see Satan's kingdom pulled down, and souls converted to God...The desire is right and good...Let it...never be forgotten that the time of success is a time of danger to the Christian's soul.  The very hearts that are depressed when all things seem against them, are often unduly exalted in the day of prosperity.  Few men are like Samson, and can kill a lion without telling others of it (Judges 14:6)...Most of Christ's labourers probably have as much success as their souls can bear." (Ash, Christopher. Zeal without Burnout. Good Book, 2016. 104-05. Print.)

It is the last line which hits home.  God is gracious and blesses us with great successes, but few of them are known or easily quantifiable.  God does miraculous wonders behind the scenes and in the hearts and minds of people continually, and because they escape notice our pride is not stirred which lurks within each one of us.  How good God is to allow success to open our eyes to our tendency to boast and pride, and yet restrains us in His grace to keep us from grave harm.  Our souls can handle only so much success, and the hard times are often the forging, strengthening times so we will be able to endure success without shipwreck upon a deadly reef of pride.

It is God who brings success.  This "success" is not the quantifiable increase or profitability others will appreciate or applaud, but denotes sure success in all God has ordained us to do in due time.  It is obedience to God's Word which brings this success, as God said to Joshua in Joshua 1:8:  "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."  When we meditate on God's Word and obey Him, we will be successful.  Many successful men and women of God were deemed utter wastes and complete failures by their contemporaries, yet they had good success and were prosperous in God's view.  God's definition of success is the one which counts for eternity!

Goodwill To Men

In my high school days, many perfect Saturday mornings were spent searching for lost treasures in thrift stores.  My mate Evan and I would troll El Cajon op shops looking for quality vinyl records and sweet polyester shirts.  It was the early 90's but we loved the music and clothes of the 70's!  We would always hit the Salvation Army, then head over to AMVETS, and finally Goodwill.  Goodwill Thrift Stores have an interesting history, dating back to 1902.  Founded by Reverend Edgar J. Helms, the organisation helped people through donations and provided opportunities for people to work.

With the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ rapidly approaching, I was reminded today of what the heavenly host proclaimed to shepherds who tended their flocks that night long ago in Luke 2:14:  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"  It is one thing for a man to have "goodwill" to his fellow man, but how wondrous and lovely it is for the Almighty God to proclaim peace and goodwill toward men.  How utterly undeserving we are of such favour from God, that He will send His own Son to be the Saviour of the world.  God is holy, and for Him to show mercy and kindness to us really is phenomenal.  There is no good thing in man, but Jesus came to change that forever.  When people have offended us we don't want to visit or have anything to do with them, but God demonstrated love in the profound act by becoming a man and walking among us sinners.  God has His messengers, but He would deliver this message of love, grace, and salvation Himself.

How can we respond to so great a love, to such "peace, goodwill toward men?"  It is reasonable for us each to acknowledge and receive it.  Unless we acknowledge a gift is intended for us, we will not open or appropriate it.  Having goodwill towards God and towards others is another fitting response.  We can show gratitude to God with generosity towards others, being gracious and longsuffering to all.  Jesus came with goodwill toward all people, not just a select few.  The motto for the Goodwill Thrift Stores became, "Not a Charity - But a Chance."  God's charity (love) is the only chance we sinners have for salvation, for it is impossible for us to earn the righteous standing before God required.  Jesus came to this earth with His future death in mind, for it is written in Romans 5:8:  "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  In dying for sin Jesus gave sinners a chance to obtain eternal life.  There is no chance of salvation apart from Christ, for He is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life."

Glory to God in the highest for bringing peace and goodwill toward men!

Matter Of Faith

Do you ever imagine ideal conditions required for others to believe in God and the truth of the Bible?  Some have gone to great lengths to find ancient artifacts, thinking that if they presented hard evidence - Noah's ark, the gilded Ark of the Covenant, the tablets of stone upon which the 10 Commandments were written, or the original menorah - people would have to believe in light of the overwhelming evidence.  It sounds novel, but I do not believe miracles or relics make believers.  When Jesus told the story of the rich man in Sheol, he begged Abraham to send Lazarus to speak to his 5 brothers of the torment which awaited them so they might repent.  Luke 16:29-31 says, "Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' ³⁰ And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' ³¹ But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'"

Jesus has risen from the dead, and still people do not believe He is the Messiah sent to be the Saviour of the world.  We have fulfilled prophesy and eye-witness accounts in the Bible and do not need the actual nails or cross upon which Jesus Christ hung to know the truth.  God could have preserved the site of Christ's death and burial without question as well as the manger in which He was laid, the broken alabaster flask which held the precious ointment poured upon him, the shackles which bound Jesus in prison when He awaited crucifixion, and the seamless tunic Roman guards cast lots for.  God was wise to allow these relics to be destroyed lest men worship them instead of Christ!  Having visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem this year, I have witnessed this folly firsthand:  people paying homage to rocks rather than the Rock of our salvation.  It is ironic the children of Israel worshiped the bronze serpent made by Moses, yet many refuse to worship the Lamb of God who was lifted up to draw all men unto Himself.

What do you suppose is a better witness of the reality of God's existence and power:  stone tablets upon which are written the 10 Commandments by the finger of God, or a living, breathing person who has been born again whose heart of stone has been exchanged for a heart of flesh upon which God has written His law?  Isn't the testimony of an eye witness who has personally been born again better than all the inanimate, silent relics of the past?  We think, "If by the power of the Holy Spirit I was able to heal that person physically, what an opportunity it would be for them to see God's power firsthand."  I agree!  And there were many people who experienced healing firsthand by the hand of Christ, and still they did not believe Him.  People saw Jesus after He rose from the dead and still doubted (Matthew 28:7)!  Man's problems with faith do not have to do with the lack of physical evidence or facts, but pride and folly in his own heart.

We who believe, let us be those who boldly testify of what we have seen, heard, and experienced.  We have the Law, the prophets, and all the scriptures which testify of Jesus.  We have the Holy Spirit who has filled us and empowered us to do God's will.  Let us believe in the power of God's Word and the Gospel to bring sinners out of darkness and into the light.  In faith bring the light of scripture into the darkest places, to hearts hardened and resistant to the truth, and see the dynamic saving power of Jesus in action.