The Gift

So, Christmas is getting close again.  Chances are you'll be getting a gift.  Exactly what are you doing to earn that gift?  Maybe your birthday is between now and then.  If your spouse or parents or friends are planning on getting you gifts, how are you planning to pay them for their generosity?  What?  Oh, you didn't plan to pay?  Why not?  Because paying for gifts or earning them negates the gift.

So, if you pay for it or work to earn it, you are due what otherwise might be a gift.  Repaying, you say, takes the gift out of giving.  I see.  So, tell me then, why are we trying so hard to earn God's gift of salvation?  Why do so many people say to me, "I just don't know if I have been good enough or have done enough?"  Why do we wonder if we have earned God's gift of salvation?

The apostle Paul was more than a little clear in saying, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith---and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God---not by works, so that no one can boast" (Eph 2:8-9).  Do you doubt he was being truthful?  Do you doubt the Spirit was revealing God's Word through him?  No?  Then perhaps it's time to stop trying to earn what God has given you.

Instead of trying to earn it, why not take the time and expend the energy being thankful for it and expressing your gratitude.  Why not try the gift on, wear it with pride, let others know how gracious God has been to you?  That is how a gift is received, not by trying to earn it or pay for it.  And, receiving a gift means that you actually embrace it.  The gift is taken out of the box and put to use as you thankfully integrate it into your life.

Freely receiving a gift doesn't mean there is no response on your part.  There is the expression of gratitude that naturally follows and there is the actual use of the gift.  This is true of God's gift as well.  Let's look at verse 10 of the passage above: "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

God's gift of salvation from a world of sin and death brings us into a new life and a kingdom in which there are kingdom things to be doing, new life activities in which to be engaged.  His gift is not something to put on a shelf or tuck away for a rainy day (or fiery one, if you will).  His gift is not for then but for now and eternity.

Freely accept his gift and freely exercise it in your daily life.  Study his Word, spend time in relational prayer with him, bask in the freedom you have been given, share the glory of God that is yours.  But do not waste one second trying to earn the new life God has so graciously given you.  It is yours to enjoy not yours to repay.  Jus' Say'n.