Matthew 7:11 If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. It seems like we have a theme going these last few days, about giving and receiving! Maybe it’s the Christmas season, or maybe God’s trying to pound something into my head. I’ve always heard it said that if God doesn’t give you the thing you ask for it’s because there’s something better He has for me later. I don’t know if that’s true or if He doesn’t give me the thing I ask for because I’m asking for something that’ll hurt me. However you want to look at it, God loves His children and isn’t going to give bad gifts. Look at Jesus, for example. You can’t get a much better gift than freedom, salvation, and eternity with God! But the ephemeral aside, He does give good gifts to us on this side of heaven. I recently watched a TED talk by the guy who followed all the rules of the Bible literally for a year (or at least most of them). Aside for the fact that he’s agnostic and he’s hilarious, the one part of the talk that stuck out to me what when he talked about thankfulness. He was referring to the verse that says to give thanks in all things. As he went through the year giving thanks for everything he said it made him realize how much he had to be thankful for. Whether you believe in God or not, we are far more blessed than we often realize. There are so many things to give thanks for, and that’s even more obvious in this season where we (hopefully) focus on giving to others. I love Christmas for the lights, the beauty, and the time off of work, but I also absolutely love buying Christmas presents! As difficult as it can be sometimes, I love finding and picking out presents that make people smile. And I think that’s what Christmas is partially about – loving the act of giving to others, which reflects God’s joy at giving to us. And, like this verse says, His gifts are good. I may not understand how it’s good right now (especially if it’s not what I asked for), but in the long run I will understand more, and hopefully appreciate the gifts He’s given to me.
Matthew 2:11 They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I think it’s funny that Jesus is always shown as a little baby in pictures with the wise men. If the star appeared when He was born, then He was about 2 years old. I have a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old, and let me tell you… those painters should have painted Jesus running around playing instead of sitting quietly on Mary’s lap! Granted, He was God, so maybe He knew that He should be still and thank the nice wise men for his gifts, but I can just see Him stopping what He was doing and looking at the gifts, then at his mother, and then at the wise men, raising his eyebrows and going back to his games. Gold, frankincense and myrrh? Dude I’m a 2-year-old boy! Can I have a truck? (Yes, I know they didn’t have trucks back then) But, then again, since He was perfect, maybe He politely jabbered some nonsense (unless He was also linguistically advanced), smiled and sat like a good boy until they left. It’s kind of funny to think of God as a 2-year-old. Granted, since He was perfect and sinless, He probably behaved quite a bit better than my 2-year-old, but I think He was still a little boy who wanted to do little boy things and wrestle with his dad and touch every, every tool on the workbench – twice! It gives some humanity to His deity. It also helps me remember that He really did experience a lot of the things that we, as humans, experienced. I know I normally think of his experiencing human things as something that happened as an adult, but I wonder if Jesus ever had a crush on a girl? Or did a girl ever have a crush on Him, and He has to politely and kindly let her know He just wasn’t interested… What must it have been like to have a been 10 and known the thoughts and feelings of everyone around you? Or maybe that was something that came up gradually. Who knows. It’s an interesting thought to me, though. Okay, enough rambling. There are the random things I think about at 5am.
Daniel 1: 17 God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams. Daniel wasn’t born with the ability to interpret dreams. He was given this gift when he needed it, when he was older. Even though he was in captivity and in the service of a Godless king, God still blessed Daniel and equipped him for the job at hand. He even gave him a special gift. God loves us and prepares us when we need it. He doesn’t do it in advance. He waits until the time is right and the need is there. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to trust sometimes. We’d like to have it in advance, but God says, “wait.” He provides it at just the right time, at the moment when we need it. And it doesn’t matter the circumstances as long as we are walking in His will.
Joshua 17:16They said, “The hill country is not enough for us, and the Canaanites in the lowlands around Beth-shan and the valley of Jezreel have iron chariots – they are too strong for us.” Then Joshua said tot he tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the decendants of Joseph, “Since you are so large and strong, yhou will be given more than one portion. THe forests of the hill country will be yours as well. Clear as muchof the land as you wish and live there. And I am sure you can drive out the Canaanites from the valleys, too, even though htey are strong and have iron chariots.” These two tribes wanted more land, but didn’t want to do the work to clear out the extra land allotted to them by Joshua. Joshua turns it on them reminding them of their great numbers and strength (part of why they wanted more land) and says “Surely you can do it since you’re so big and strong.” Often we are like these two tribes. We want more than we have, but we don’t want to have to do anything to get it. We’d rather get it all tied up nicely in a bow. But more often than not, that’s not how God operates. In order to grow, we must also work. To grow crops you must plant seed and care for it. So it is with our lives and our possessions. Rarely is anything just given to us. But the process of struggle and work refines us and prepares us so that when we do clear the land we can keep possession of it; when we do get the bigger and better things we hoped for, we don’t squander them or use them ill. The tribes needed to remember that God was bigger than the iron chariots and the Canaanites. God is bigger than our giants, too. So don’t be afraid to step up to the plate. Work, fight, grow, trust, receive.
Numbers 18:29 Be sure to set aside the best portions of the gifts given to you as your gifts to the Lord. The context of this verse is that it is a change in the earlier law as a result of Korah’s rebellion. Now the people of Israel cannot approach the Tabernacle or they will die. The Levites will no longer get any inheritance of land, but they will get to keep the tithes brought by the people to the temple. In this verse, Moses tells them that they should tithe on this tithe that is given to them. However, I think the wording is pretty interesting. They must set aside the best. Not just any tenth will do. It must be the best portion of what they receive. This is pretty subjective, I think. God leaves it up to them to decide what constitutes the best. In essence, they must be honest about what they have been given and willingly choose to give back what they consider to be the best part. We are asked to do this, too. God blesses us: financially, physically, with family, spiritually. We must choose to give our best back to Him. We get to decide what is considered the best, but it still belongs to Him. We must be honest when we decide this… a true test of character. I also think the wording “of the gifts given to you” holds more meaning for us today. The Holy Spirit gifts us spiritual gifts when we become a Christ-follower and accept the Holy Spirit’s leading in our life. Paul explains some of those gifts, like teaching, mercy, shepherding (not sheep, people), administration, etc. These aren’t given for the fun of it or because they’re cool. We should also give back the best of these gifts to God – using them to honor Him and glorify Him. As I’m learning more and more, it’s not about me. It’s all about Him. He gives us the best, and He deserves the best in return. I am often selfish, but in surrendering my best, I get His best back. And that’s worth everything.