Receiving well

I have been struck afresh this year by the advertisements for Christmas on the radio. Many of them promise that if you use their products or services it will be your best, greatest, most marvellous Christmas ever. Maybe you would like to visit the Ultimate Gift Ideas website.  One advert even promised that if you bought their gold goblets (four for £10) it would make your Christmas table the best ever. Excuse my cynicism.

But this is the problem with all if these advertisements. As the superlatives flourish, their promises inevitably lead to disappointment and cynicism which after all protects us from disappointment. We are all familiar I am sure with Jesus words “It is more blessed to give than to receive” which is a great antidote to both disappointment and cynicism for the focus shifts away from ourselves, our wants, our desires, our needs onto others.

As we give to others we can share in their joy. I love anonymous giving as you get to enjoy others’ pleasure secretly. God, the greatest giver, must have great pleasure in giving not just to his children but everyone.  Of course the best gift God gave us was his Son which is or should be the focus of Christmas.

However I am also struck by the importance of how we receive gifts. Recently I have witnessed gifts that were of huge significance to the giver been treated quite casually by the recipient.  This can be very hurtful.

How must God feel then when his greatest gift, his Son Jesus, is treated casually or ignored by most people?  His sorrow must be deep. God has provided all that man needs to deal with sin and to live a happy, fulfilled and deeply satisfying life. Through Jesus men and women can fulfill their God given destiny. The majority choose to reject this gift.

This Christmas as we receive gifts let’s make sure we receive them all – the big and the small with thankfulness and gratitude. However I want to make sure that this Christmas I take my eyes off the glitter and nonsense that will only disappoint and with a thankful heart place my focus firmly on the greatest gift of all.

Gerard van Honthorst Nativity

Every good and perfect gift

We have nothing to give that didn't first come from your hand,

We have nothing to offer you which you did not provide

Every good, perfect gift comes from your kind and gracious heart

And all we do is give back to you what always has been yours.

Who has given to you that it should be paid back to him?

Who has given to you as if you needed anything?

To you and from you comes all things O Lord

And all we do is give back to you what always has been yours.     Matt Redman

We do truly come into the world with nothing and we leave taking nothing with us.  We arrive as naked babies and we depart leaving all we have accumulated over the years behind us.

In this materialistic world we place huge value on things, our possessions and who has got what. We admire the rich and their lifestyle and despise the poor. Yet as Christians we must get hold of the truth that everything we have comes from God’s kind and gracious heart.

‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it’ the Psalmist declares in Psalm 24:1. God and God alone is the Creator and whilst his creation may be very pleased with their efforts at creating things including wealth from what he has provided, the reality is that even these abilities come from him (Deuteronomy 8: 18).

When God gave Moses the instructions for building the tabernacle and all its furnishings, he anointed Bezalel ‘with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts – to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship (Exodus 31: 3 – 5). Moreover God appointed Oholiab to help him. Their skills came from God.

It can be rather galling to think we are not as brilliant as we thought and that everything we have has not come from our own efforts. However actually getting hold of this truth that it all comes from God is very liberating. 

God has given us gifts and abilities because he wants us to use them both for our enjoyment and to bless others. If we let God use us, our abilities become liberated from what we can do to what God can do through us. I am sure Bezalel was amazed at what God enabled him to create.

Even in the area of wealth creation, God will use us to be a great blessing to all around us. We all know ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35) and it is indeed a great joy to give gifts or money. Our world desperately needs people who can handle wealth correctly and the first step in that is acknowledging it didn't come from us and our own labours in the first place. When we realise everything comes from God, it is so much easier to pass it on to others, knowing that God will always pour in where we have poured out.

The Bible is full of assurances that God will satisfy our desires as we trust him (Psalm 37: 4 and 145: 19 as examples). We never need fear being generous.

We have nothing to offer God that didn't come from him in the first place. Our very breath is a gift from God.  God wants to bless us with so much more but the key is to realise it all came from him and with thankful hearts try to become a giver with a heart like God’s because he is the ultimate Giver. 

The truth shall set you free

And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. John 8: 32

One of the hardest things to do as a Christian is live by the truth of God’s words and not by our feelings. I have a Christian friend who was always telling me that feelings were just feelings – nothing more – by which he meant that they could not necessarily be trusted. This used to infuriate me because my feelings were very real and I felt very reliable. The truth is feelings are important but they are also very unreliable and should not just be used as an indication of how things are.

I have found on many occasions when I have felt that something was not right between me and someone else, the best thing is to ask them if something is wrong. Frequently there is nothing wrong; it was just my feelings misleading me. Occasionally there is something amiss but if we talk about it we can be put things right and iron out any misunderstandings.

The devil would much prefer we live in the midst of muddles and misunderstandings, and grievances real or imagined. He does not want us living in the truth and especially with regard to our relationship with God. This is because as we walk in the truth of who God is and who we are, chains of rejection, hurt, bitterness, resentment, unfulfilled ambitions, grief and so on fall off and we are set free to know that God’s love is very real and very reliable.

If there is one truth we need to really get hold of it is that God only wants good things for his children. Which father arranges horrible things for his child? This does not mean God will not discipline us but he does this 'as a Father who delights in us' not because he is a mean, nit-picking disciplinarian. He does it because he wants us to walk in freedom not bound by sin, either ours or another’s or its consequences. Jesus said, ‘which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!’ Matthew 7: 9 – 11.

God wants good things for his children and God works good things for his children. As Mark Stibbe says, ‘he is the world’s greatest dad’. Whenever you catch yourself thinking or feeling something negative about God, stop. Replace that thought with a new thought about the goodness of God. It is literally life transforming – for you!