Church bulletin for March
I finally got around to cleaning out the garage the other day. There were many bits and pieces in boxes and on shelves that had been bought as gifts over the years. Buying gifts is one of the principle ways we express love and friendship particularly when it comes to special occasions. It’s certainly enjoyable giving a gift to someone you care for; likewise being on the receiving end. It made me think though, buying can also be the easy way out. I knew a family back in Adelaide in which the siblings didn’t get along all that well. Yet strangely come Christmas or birthdays they kicked into gear and bought really expensive presents. I remember ridiculous sums of money being spent. Once children entered the picture so did the backbiting when someone’s child got less than what was expected.
God is also the giver of gifts; He gives many gifts to humanity in general and to His people. James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” The most significant of His gifts, is the gift of Himself. He gave His Son that we might have eternal life. Eternal life is not simply everlasting life but to be brought into right relationship with Him. John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” It is a deeply profound thing that finite creatures can know the infinite creator as Father and friend. The idea of knowing God involves intimacy; He saves us in order to engage in mutually intimate friendship. Consider the communion between our first parents and God in the Garden of Eden before it was fractured by sin. We don’t presently relate to God as they did, but the rift of separation has been healed and one day we will.
The members of the family to which I referred never had time for one another; the money spent was not evidence of relationship but of rivalry. Is it possible that we can give “things” to God without actually giving ourselves? We can go to church giving our time, our money, and our voices and yet remain very distant to Him. These commitments are certainly important, but what about Monday to Saturday? What about quiet times spent in meditation and prayer? God gave His Son not because He wants our money or a performance on Sunday, but because He wants us; He wants our love and devotion on a daily basis.