BIBLE PASSAGE:
He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all;
how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?
(Romans 8:32)
MEDITATION:
Which is more important to you, receiving a gift from someone,
giving a gift to another person, or having a great relationship
with someone? We can receive gifts for any number of reasons.
Some give gifts as an act of love.
Some give gifts because they feel an obligation to give them.
Some give gifts to encourage others.
Some give gifts to others because they see they are in need.
Some give gifts in response to gifts they have received.
We receive big gifts, small gifts, expensive gifts, cheap gifts,
gifts that mean a lot to us, etc.
It’s good to receive gifts, but it’s even greater to give gifts to others.
Think about the excitement that builds whenever we find a special
gift that we know someone is going to be thrilled to receive. We may
have spent a lot of time trying to find it, and we can’t wait to see how
the other person will react when they open the gift. Giving can create
great pleasure for us.
Now, imagine how our Heavenly Father anticipates our receiving the
gift He has available for us. We may have sacrificed money we were
going to use for ourselves, so we could buy a gift for someone else,
but God gave His only Son as His gift to us. How awesome is that?
We know by a valuable gift of this magnitude, just how much God
loves us. We should ask ourselves, “How much do I love Him?”
Take a moment and think about that. The God of the universe not
only created us, but He has made the most incredible gift imaginable,
available for you and me. And it doesn’t stop there!
The scriptures tell us He gave up His Son for us, and He will bless
us in many ways. We have His assurance that He has also sent the
Holy Spirit to guide us, protect us, convict us, and assist us in our
transition from who we are, to who God wants (and has planned)
for us to be.
When we receive God’s gift of salvation, He begins a transformation
process (called sanctification) that purges us of unrighteousness and
fills us with righteousness. In addition, He blesses us with at least one
spiritual gift we can use in serving Him as part of our transformation.
That’s the kind of God we love, praise and worship! No other so called
‘god’ can ever match the love and the blessings of our Heavenly Father.
ACTION:
Take some time and think about all the gifts God has given you. He
continues to give us gifts daily and we need to recognize them and
thank Him for His generosity. When we pray, we should include
thanks to God for His love and graciousness. If we expect to grow
in our relationship with the Lord, we should plan on spending time
with Him each day.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, we need to overcome Satan’s attempts
to persuade us to replace God’s will with our own will. If we don’t defeat
these attempts, we will give higher priorities to our selfish desires than
we give to God’s desires for us.
Jesus spent around six hours dying an agonizing death on the cross for
us. He loves us that much, and He deserves first place in our lives. We
can determine how important He is to us when we measure the amount
of time we spend with Him, and we evaluate how many characteristics
of Jesus are evident in us (things like: love, obedience, patience, concern
for others, replacing our will with God’s will, using our spiritual gift to
serve Him, etc.).
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, when I think of the incredible gifts You have
given me, “thank You” doesn’t seem like enough to express the
depth of my gratitude to You. When you gave up Your Son for my
sins, it showed me how much love You have for me. Forgive me if
I don’t adequately show my appreciation for all You have given me,
and continue to give to me daily. I am sorry for those times when I
could have spent time with You, but chose instead to selfishly put
something else ahead of You. You are important to me, and I want
to express my love and praise to You at every opportunity from this
day forward. Teach me to live a life that demonstrates how important
You are to me, and will serve as my testimony of the love I have for You.”
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