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Written by Aaron Sparks
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Sunday, 12 April 2009 20:17 |
When I was first dating Jen, one of the things that really drew me to her was how she recieved my gifts. You could tell she was truly grateful and it showed. Then as I witnessed her receive gifts from her family at Christmas, I noticed that it really had nothing to do with whatever the gift was, but more the thought behind the gift that she really appreciated and showed genuine outward gratitude.
I happened to be researching quotes on Wednesday for Derik (and you might have noticed, because only some of the great ones made it as my Facebook status), I looked up quotes from Thomas Kempis, a theologian who wrote “Imitation of Christ” and ran across this one that really impacted me (and really was the inspiration of this article):
“He who loves with purity considers not the gift of the lover, but the love of the giver.”
Okay, so this weekend also happens to be Easter weekend, a holiday that is now celebrated in honor of Christ’s resurrection. God’s gift to mankind. Since much of the focus has been put on the death of the Christ, you’d think we were back on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) instead breaking bread with Him with our eyes opened. We have focused so much attention on the sacrifice, that we’ve totally missed the gifts that God has freely given us... Salvation, Resurrection from the dead, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. There’s many more blessings that branch off of these, but really, this is what it basically boils down to...
How have you recieved God’s gift to you? Are you showing him your gratitude by your obedience to Him? Are you showing him your appreciation by using them (I’m referring to gifts from the Holy Spirit here and alluding to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30)? These are ways we can show our love to God... and if that’s the greatest commandment, shouldn’t that be exactly what we are doing?
And yet, some of us insist on continuing on with our lives as if nothing special has happened to us. How can we receive this gift without joy in our lives? Without any change in our life? How did we take the greatest gift of all, and then take it for granted?
Maybe we forget the love that God showed us. Maybe we never stop to think about it (even though that is exactly what we should be thinking about during the Lord’s Supper and throughout the week really). Maybe Satan has done too good a job distracting us with things that offer temporary happiness, that we forget the everlasting joy that comes with the gifts that God offers us.
There’s an old Christmas video of my younger sister opening gifts. Each one she would scream in excitement, toss it to the side, and move on to the next gift. Unfortunately, I think many of us have done the same thing with God’s gift... let us seek out the true value of this gift and act accordingly.
And if you haven’t taken the gift, why not?!?
-Aaron✌♥n☧ |
