Thought for Today
Proverbs 18:16 A gift opens doors; it gives access to the great.
Ecclesiastes 3:13 moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.
Ecclesiastes 5:19 Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil-- this is the gift of God.
John 4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--
Maybe it was the gentle pitter-patter of the (much needed) rain falling on our roof, but for some reason, I woke up this morning thinking about gifts. September does forebode the approach of winter, but, in our family, it does not have any particular association with giving or receiving gifts.
Maybe it is the realization that I have referenced Ephesians 2:8 very often this year, 34 times since January. Paul’s words portend two of the primary elements of the Protestant Reformation, sola gratia, the fact that Christians are saved by the grace of God and sola fides, the truth that Christians are saved through our faith in Jesus as the Christ.
As I thought about that I realized that I most often reflect on grace and faith and neglect Paul’s affirmation that our salvation itself is a gift of God. I cannot ever remember hearing or giving a Bible Study lesson or sermon on gifts. Yet, as a child, as a parent, and now a grandparent, I know the importance and value of both giving and receiving gifts.
Some years ago, one of the characters in one of my favorite television shows hated the entire concept of gifts and giving. He viewed gifts as a social contract containing an implied quid pro quo, an obligation imposed on the gift recipient by the giver. The obligation was the demand of reciprocity, i.e., the recipient was socially obligated to respond to the giver with a comparable gift. That idea was an ongoing trope for that comedic show. In our society, does gift giving imply a social contract of reciprocity? I was not raised to understand it that way.
Paul is not the only one in the Bible to mention gifts and gift giving. Certainly, reciprocity is at the heart of the Proverb above. We see echoes of that idea in politics still today. Gifts and donations often do give access to the great. One does not have to be a cynic to recognize that fact.
The Prophet does mention the gifts of God. Behind his words, I see a sort of prosperity gospel linking wealth and success with God’s blessing and approval. However, Jesus reminds us “Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,55 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.”
The Bible does often seem to imply favorable or unfavorable weather phenomena as being linked to God’s approval or disapproval. I do not concur, although I must admit that we left Texas during a long drought that was broken after we left. And, since we arrived in New England, northern Massachusetts has experienced a significant period of drought. Surely those are merely coincidental.
I do believe that God has given us all a wealth of gifts. Creation itself is a gift. Life is a gift of God, “Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”
I believe Paul’s words above and John 3:16-17 both recognize God’s greatest gift to God’s Creation. When God’s children proved through our failure that we could not do it all on our own, God sent Jesus to lead us. God did so as proof of God’s love.
Do I believe that only Christians are saved? I am not nearly presumptuous enough to tell God whom God may or may not save, “for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” I may ultimately be surprised at who I see in eternity; I just need to live here and now so that they will not be surprised to see me arrive.
Accept God’s gifts, use them wisely, trust God,
Pastor Ray