CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
(This blog was written by my daughter, Grace Cain, for Crossing Community Church in Newtown, PA.)
Christmas is about presents, am I right? Presents for kids, giving to charity, white elephants and family Pollyanna. I absolutely love giving gifts to others! Every Christmas I hardcore shop with hours of research, theme compiling and assembly. If I can make you cry, I’ve done my job well!
But what really throws me off – what truly churns my stomach – is when someone comes up to me and hands me a beautifully wrapped present, full of thoughtfulness and sacrifice – and I planned nothing for them in return! I’m caught off guard. All I can offer is ‘thank you’ and a hug. Why does that upset me so much?
Because, in that moment, I feel unworthy and unbalanced. I have nothing to offer the giver, and my pride is in jeopardy. I can’t settle the score with a back-up wrapped candle or plate of cookies: I’m useless and the subject of someone else’s compassion. I have no weight in the exchange of that relationship.
In front of God the Father, at the throne of Christ, I have absolutely no weight in that relationship either. I’m incredibly uncomfortable with that! My people-pleasing, pride-protecting self wants some personal investment that I can offer in return for His goodness and redemption. But I have nothing to offer, and that could terrify me. Or it could be a force of joy, because He is good and blesses me beyond what I deserve. Beyond what I’ve done. Beyond what I have to offer!
I want to celebrate his worthiness, complete goodness, and His redemption we can’t influence or pay back. We carry no weight; we cannot respond with a gift He deserves. We can only respond with worship, which is supplied through Him. (Grace (Schmoyer) Cain)
Nor is (God) served by human hands as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Acts 17:25
How do you feel when you can’t repay someone’s incredible generosity to you? How ought we respond to God’s favor?
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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