The Greatest Gift
It's going to be Christmas in just a few weeks.
Have you starting looking for the "prefect" gift for that someone on your
shopping list?
Paul has some ideas:
"To Timothy, my true son in the faith: Grace (spiritual blessing
and favor), mercy, and [heart] peace [be yours] from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." (1 Tim 1:2 AMP)
So just what are these "gifts"?
Grace is defined as God's spiritual blessing and favour; mercy as kindness
or forgiveness, especially shown to somebody a person has power over; and
peace as a calm and quiet state, a state serenity and no anxiety.
Now there's a gift list!
But wait a minute. Aren't all of these things ours in Christ?
Bingo!
Then why is Paul wishing these gifts upon Timothy?
And better yet, why don't more Christians feel like they have received these
gifts?
Remember, just because a gift is given doesn't always mean it is received!
Last year, the youth group my boys were involved with had a "Hillbilly" gift
exchange. My younger son worked hard on his gift. He went to the junk pile behind
our property and carefully chose the biggest, ugliest piece of scrap metal.
He then brought it home, cleaned it off, and wrapped it in a big-screen TV
box. He took it to youth and placed it with the pile of other gifts. Imagine
his delight when it was the first one chosen.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the first one received. You see, after everyone
opened the gifts, the youth were allowed to swap and "steal". When it was
all said and done, my son's carefully prepared gift was the only one left
unaccepted, unloved, fully unappreciated.
Now God's gifts to us are far more valuable than my son's scrap metal.
However the concept is the same: If we don't accept God's gift, we will
never fully appreciate it!
God's grace, mercy and peace are given to us when we accept Jesus as our
personal Lord and Saviour. We ARE saved. We have His forgiveness, His
spiritual blessing and favour, and we have the calm and quiet state, the
mental serenity, the freedom from anxiety. They are ours! But just like the
one who opened my son's gift and then just left it, we often do the same
with these wonderful gifts from God!
Take for example how we leave His gift of grace unappreciated: Hundreds and
thousands of Christians doubt their Salvation. So many times we hear, "I'm
afraid to die, I'm not sure of my Salvation. I still have so much sin in my
life!" Friends, God's gift of Grace is free! It is Jesus taking our sin and
giving us His Righteousness! It doesn't require we be sin-free! Not that
it's a license to sin, but it is our assurance that when we do fall into
sin, we are still covered by His grace! There is no need to live in fear of
our Salvation!
If you are one who leaves God's gift of grace unappreciated, then meditate
upon this verse: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
should boast." (Eph 2:8-10 NKJV).
Friends, if you have accepted Jesus into your heart, you ARE saved! It is a
gift! Accept it! Appreciate it! Value it! And mostly BELIEVE it!
Now let's look at God's mercy. So often this gift is unappreciated. God's
mercy is His forgiveness and kindness, even when we don't merit it. And most
of us dwell in the "don't merit it" ballpark, don't we? And we're right to
do so, because hey! We DON'T merit God's forgiveness! But mercy is just this
by definition: It is the pouring out of His kindness and forgiveness EVEN
WHEN WE DON'T merit it! So yes, let's stay in the "Don't Merit it" ballpark,
but at the same time, let's open our arms to God's forgiveness and kindness,
because it wouldn't be "Mercy" if we earned it! God's mercy is a gift,
friends! Accept it! Appreciate it! Value it! And mostly BELIEVE it!
Finally, there is God's peace. This is perhaps the least accepted of all
God's gifts for us. So often I hear people say they are waiting for God's
peace. They are begging God for that peace. They are pleading for that
peace! But it is already God's gift! Why beg God for something He's already
given us?
So why don't we feel it? Because we haven't accepted it! Because we continue
to hang on to our worries instead of handing them over to Jesus!
Remember Jesus' words?
"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' Or 'What shall we
drink?' Or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles
seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things
shall be added to you. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matt
6:31-34 NKJV)
Is it any wonder we are told to "…humble yourselves under the mighty hand
of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him,
for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7 NKJV)?
And this pretty well sums it up, friends! God's peace is ours. All we have
to do is lay our burdens down at His feet. All we have to do is trust Him
100%, and that peace that passes all understanding will descend upon our
hearts! So what do we do about God's gift of peace? We accept it! We embrace
it! We appreciate it! We value it! And mostly we BELIEVE it!
So let's give the greatest gift of all to our friends and family: Let's
share Jesus gift of salvation, and then let's pray for them that they will
fully embrace His grace, His mercy and His peace!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and
Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural
Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems,
www.scripturalnuggets.org,
with Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org.