Dear Church Family,
When you are given a gift, what two things are likely to happen after you receive it? First, I assume you give thanks to the person who gave you the gift. Second, I hope you use the gift for its intended purpose. No doubt the giver intended you to use it and not keep it in its box in a dusty closet. I trust we can agree on what I have just stated.
God is the ultimate gift giver. Throughout the Bible, you can clearly see the over and over again God generously doles out good gifts. God’s history of gifting started in the Garden of Eden as he breathed biological life into Adam. Adam had no right to be created. God did it out of His own free will. Adam then enjoyed exercising dominion over the creation bestowed on him. God saw that Adam was alone, so He gave him Eve. After they sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, God gave them what they deserved and had been promised – God evicted them from the garden and death entered the world.
Despite their sin, God also showed them incredible mercy. They did not suffer immediate death. He showered them with covenant promises, covered their nakedness with animal skins, blessed them with children and long lives with Adam dying when he was 930. I have just entered Genesis 5 and think I could write a 500-page book on the various ways that God gives. Feel free to search the Bible and reflect on your life at the many gifts God has given you.
Without doubt the greatest gift of God is the salvation He gives to rebellious sinners. The words, “For God so loved the world He gave His only Son…” should ever cause us to marvel at how giving God remains. Salvation is truly a gift. Nothing that anyone could ever do could earn it. God’s gift-giving is not limited to eternal life, though that cannot be beat. His provides all we need to live day by day. We live in the richest country in the world. Even those who live in poverty here would be considered wealthy in most of the world. We are blessed with biological family, friends, kind neighbors and our church family. God grants to His people spiritual gifts to help build up the body of Christ. Our hearts must overflow with grateful thanks for all the God has given.
Now, what will do with all those gifts? I doubt you have room to store them, so you might as well use them for the glory of the One who the ultimate Gift-Giver. The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 calls us to wisely steward all that God has given to us. As we do empowered by His grace (another gift), we can look forward to those glorious words, “Well done My good and faithful servant!”
With great hope,
Pastor Gillikin