By David
A. Sargent
Imagine the following scenario offered by
Keith Wishum…
Suppose you heard me say, “I feel like
giving away $1000 today.” Then, I walked
up to you and handed you an envelope containing NINE crisp, new hundred-dollar
bills.
What would you say? Something like
this? “Hey, you said $1000! This is only
$900!” Or, “Where's my other $100?” Would you feel cheated? Would you complain
that you had been shorted? Or would you be glad for what you were given?
There is an interesting quirk of human
nature at work here which keeps many of us from being as happy as we could be.
Notice what was actually said. There was nothing about giving all $1000 to one
person. And certainly nothing about who
would get it. Couldn't I have meant all
along to give $900 to one person and $100 to another?
Maybe I actually intended to give $100 to
10 different people. In that case, how
would you feel about getting $900? Like
you'd gotten extra - more than your fair share?
Same amount of money, but a very different perspective.
That quirk of human nature is that we often
tend to focus on what we don't have rather than on what we do have. We long for what could be, instead of
enjoying what already is.
Truth
is, everything good that we have is an undeserved gift from God.
ALL
of it is extra! We can focus on what he
has given us and be happy with the unexpected bonus. Or, we can focus on what we didn't get and be
miserable complainers.*
“Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like
shifting shadows.” – James 1:17
The GREATEST GIFT that God has ever given
to us is the gift of His Son Jesus.
It’s the Greatest Gift because of our great
need. We are sinners (Romans 3:23),
separated from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), doomed to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14;
Romans 6:23).
But God loves us so much that He gave the
Greatest Gift, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins so that we might have
forgiveness of our sins and receive the gift of eternal life (John 3:16;
Ephesians 1:7).
Salvation and eternal life are GIFTS that
come through Jesus. Therefore, we cannot
earn them. However, we must accept them
on God’s terms.
God will give salvation and eternal life to
those who accept Christ’s offer by placing their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts
16:30-31), turning from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confessing Jesus
before men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized (immersed) into Christ for the
forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). The
blood of Jesus shed in His atoning death will continue to cleanse those who
continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).
Everything good that we have is an
undeserved gift from God. Everything!
But the Greatest Gift of all is the gift of
Jesus Christ and the salvation and life that are found in and through Him. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable
gift!” – 2 Cor 9:15
Won’t YOU accept God’s greatest Gift on His
terms?
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