We are getting into the Christmas season, a time when many of us give and receive many gifts. I suppose gift giving is mostly thought of as being part of the secular side of the holiday, and it is, but, if pondered in the proper context, it could also perhaps help us to relate to the spiritual side as well. It could perhaps help us to better understand the true meaning of Christmas. To that end, in this 5 part series on Christmas gifts, I would like to look at the answers to five questions that pertain to gifts.
What do we think about when someone gives us a gift? I think, for most of us, consciously or unconsciously, there are 5 basic questions or considerations in our mind.
What is it?
Do we need or want it?
How much did it cost?
Was it given voluntarily?
What are we going to do with it?
What in the world do these questions have to do with Jesus? In the context in which we usually think of Christmas gift giving and receiving, of worldly gifts and worldly circumstances, these questions have nothing to do with Jesus. However, if we look at these same questions, from a different prospective, then they have everything to do with Him. So, I would like to look at each of these 5 basic questions, first from a secular prospective, and then as they relate to our relationship with God.
In part 1, I looked at the first question in the list, “What is it?” and I pondered God’s gift to us. You can find that here: Article: Gift of Grace (Part 1 of 5)
Now, let’s move on to question 2.
Question 2: Do we need or want it?
So, someone has given you a Christmas gift. You’ve got it open and hopefully determined what it is. How much you need or want it is largely dependent on what it is and who you are, right? Let’s say it’s the biggest and best 500 horse power 10,000 RPM drill and let’s say you’re the Tim Allen, Bob Vila, do it yourself type. Well, you’re going to be about ready to jump over the Christmas tree, right? Now, let’s say you’re a 15 year old girl. What are you going to think about that gift? Do you need it? Do you want it? Probably not.
Let’s look at the spiritual side of this. How much do we need God’s gift to us, the gift of grace?
I have another question related to this. What kind of person are you?
Now, you may be thinking:
“I’m a good person. I attend church 3 times a week. I have my quiet time every day. I support my family well. I make good money and I tithe on every dollar that I make. I teach a Sunday school class. I chaperone every youth trip.”
If you do all of these things, then you are probably a pretty good person but the question still remains, what kind of person are you? Are you a righteous person? If we’re really honest, it’s tempting to think so, isn’t it? But, when answering this question of what kind of person we are, as it pertains to the question of how much we need God’s greatest gift, what we have to look at is how God sees us when He looks at us without the covering of the blood of Christ.
All that good stuff we do that I just talked about, what does that look like to God? Isaiah 64:6 says “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags”. Romans 3:10 says “There is none righteous, no, not one”. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Of course we should do our best to live right and do good but it doesn’t sound like God is impressed with all our good deeds.
I think we tend to forget that God’s nature is not like ours. We were created in His image but, since the fall, we are all born with a sinful nature, inherited from Adam. One effect of that sinful nature is that we tend to be somewhat tolerant of sin, especially in our own life. God does not have a sinful nature and so He has absolutely zero tolerance for sin.
The first part of Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death”. What are wages? That’s what we get paid for doing a job. When we do something for an employer, we deserve compensation for doing that job. We deserve our wages.
Have you ever broken one of the ten commandments, even once? Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever been unsatisfied with what God has provided you and wanted what someone else had? Have you ever put anything in your life before God? If we have done any of these things, even once, then we have sinned and we have earned the wages of that sin, which is spiritual death.
When it comes to your relationship with God, if you are a Christian, you don’t get what you deserve. The wages that we deserve are spiritual death, separation from God. But the second part of Romans 6:23 says “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. The gift of God is eternal life. It truly is a gift. He’s giving you what you don’t deserve, what you didn’t earn, what you could never earn. He’s giving you what He earned. Because He loves you so much that He could not stand to be separated from you, He did what was necessary to earn these wages and then He turned around and handed you the check He was given. That’s grace. And that’s God.
Think about it this way. I am blind. Let’s say I get a job as a photographer. I know that sounds crazy but stay with me. When I was growing up, photography was one of my dad’s hobbies. I did just about everything with him and, as a consequence of that, I ended up learning a lot about photography. I learned about aperture and shutter speed and film speed. I learned about focal length and color temperature and flash sink. I understand the technical side of photography pretty well. I am also pretty good at localizing things by sound and logic. I once successfully videoed a skier, being pulled behind the boat I was riding in, just by keeping the camera pointed at where I thought he should be. That was probably more luck than skill but don’t tell anyone. LOL. So, I can do OK with photography, when I’m playing around at it, when the results aren’t really of any consequence.
Let’s say that, because of this, I decide that I could do this to earn money and I want to make that my regular job. So, I try to get some photo shoots. I post on social media about it and there are a few people who like the idea of the novelty of a blind photographer and so they hire me. I go and I take the pictures. Everything seems to be going okay. But then, the results. The pictures aren’t framed quite right. Some are a little light or a little dark. The pictures are okay-ish but not good enough, considering that people were counting on them to document and commemorate their special moments. The video of the guy behind the boat was probably only okay-ish too but that was good enough, in fact that was pretty amazing, when we were just playing around. Now, this isn’t playing around, this is my job, and I haven’t earned the wages I was depending on to pay my bills this month. I don’t know what I’m going to do.
I tell my dad about this and He says this to me: “Well, it was me that you learned these skills from and you learned them well. You know what to do but, because of your nature, your blindness, even though you know what to do, you just can’t do it. I tell you what I will do. I will re-schedule these photo shoots and I will take the pictures for you.”
I say: “But what good will that do me? You will be earning the wages but it is my bills that must be paid.”
He says: “I will give you the wages that I earn from taking the pictures.”
I say: “But why would you do that?”
He says: “Just because you are my child and I love you.”
This story is about me and my earthly father and the part about me trying to actually be a paid photographer is made up. However, there is a similar story about me and my Heavenly Father that is quite real. I have studied my Heavenly Father’s Word my whole life. I know what I should do and I do pretty well at it, by the world’s standards. However, I am not perfect at it, by any means, and that is the standard that counts, His standard. I can play around at photography but I could never be a photographer. I can play around at righteousness but I can never be righteous. That’s OK though. My Heavenly Father is righteous. It is He Who defines righteousness. Through the sacrifice of His only Son, that righteousness was imputed to me, once I decided to quit playing around at righteousness and I asked Him to do for me what I had come to realize I could not do for myself.
I do my best to adhere to the standard set forth in His Word. However, because of my sinful nature, I fall short, every day. So do you. So do we all. Remember, all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We sin, every day. That’s okay though, or it can be. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. When He looks at us, those of us who have been covered by the blood of His sacrifice, He does not see those filthy rags of our unrighteousness. Rather, He sees the clean white robes of His Son, Who gave Himself for us, who did what we could not, who freely gave us His grace. We must submit and repent, as that is foundational to the Gospel and is the first thing Jesus preached about (Mark 1:15) but, when we mess up, He gives yet more grace (James 4:6). His is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
The bottom line of all this is this. The wages of our sin is death (Romans 6:23) but there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus (Romans 8:1). That’s grace and that’s God’s heart. How much do we need the gift of His grace? After what I’ve said here, you tell me. I don’t see how we could need anything more. If you have never recognized your need for and received His gift of grace, please visit “The Most Important Thing” section of this website. Please come back for part 3 of this series, where we will ponder just how much this gift cost Him. The amount of the cost, and therefore the depth of His love, may just surprise you. May the peace that only He can give be with you.
