Christmas Gifts
(Proverbs 19:6 Message) Lots of people flock around a generous
person; everyone's a friend to the philanthropist.
Seeking the favor
of an important or a generous person is not uncommon. However, one might think
that the favor sought would always be for natural gifts but that is not necessarily
the case. When there are no natural gifts to be had then the secondary gift may
even prove to be more important to the seeker than the primary gift. That is the gift of association.
It would not be
stretching it to say that most folks would like to be more important than they
think they really are. One way of accomplishing that would be to associate with
people with whom they feel are higher up the ladder than they are. The outworking
of such a relationship gives them the privilege of name dropping and name
dropping makes them feel more credible…they think.
In East Texas we
call this ‘shucking and jiving’.
However, things
are much different when seeking a relationship with the Lord. When one has a
relationship with the Lord then all of heaven’s gifts are a part of that
relationship without any ‘shucking and jiving’. That makes everything primary (both
the relationship and the gifts), and nothing is secondary because all of it
comes wrapped in the love of God.
Just think about
it…He is in the Spiritual gifts, He is in the physical gifts, He is in the financial
gifts and He is in the relationship gifts as well as everything else that heaven
has stored up for those who love Him. One might even say that a relationship
with the Lord is like opening CHRISTmas gifts every day.
Jesus said, “…he
that hath seen me hath seen the Father”. The same thing should be true when people see
us. When one sees us they should also see our generous Father. As the Father
has given generously to each of us then we should also give generously to the
orphans and the widows and to the poor. As we do give I am sure it puts a smile
on the Lord’s face as well as these words on His lips…”You got it”.
It is something
like us passing out CHRISTmas presents everyday wrapped in the same package of
love that our gifts were wrapped in.
I remember as a
little country boy that my Christmas present was like most other country boys
at that time. I do not recall any presents being wrapped in beautiful colored
paper with bows on top…that came later. Most presents were either something simple
or something handmade and if they were wrapped at all they were wrapped in
brown paper and tied with string
I do not think I
knew anyone who actually had a Christmas stocking to hang up either…we would just
hang up a sock. In my sock I always remembered getting an apple, an orange and
a little piece of peppermint candy. I could not have been happier than if my
sock had been filled with money. Even then I had a deep appreciation for the heart
that gave those gifts rather than the gifts themselves.
My conclusion is
if one seeks the Lord first then all of the other things will be added and this
is exactly what continues to happen in my life to this very day. I continue to
enjoy the small things of life because they all seem much bigger when they are
wrapped in the love of the Lord.
Father,
I thank You for
showing me Your love through Your presents and Your presence. Because of Your
love I lack for nothing. My desire is to be as generous with others as You have
been with me.
Amen