WHAT ARE THE BEST
GIFTS OF ALL? I think they are those
that we receive with grateful hearts ~ and then turn around and lay them at the
feet of Jesus! It seems that this
message will be a postscript to last week’s!
Remember me sharing about one of our granddaughters wanting us to give
the gift we would have given to her – to someone less fortunate? Well, it turns out to be a truly precious
story when God gets involved and He gives the idea! And it HAD to be HIS idea – because several
months ago, we had included a photo of our little great-granddaughter in the
small packet we sent to our “adopted World Vision child”, Tarike, in
Ethiopia. We thought since we are old
enough to be her grandparents, it would be fun for her to see some pictures of
children. So we tucked in a few prints of
our Sunday School children ~ and then added in one of our little Emma. Tarike is getting to “meet” all of our
grandchildren as we keep sending her more photos! Amazingly not long before our
granddaughter’s wish became known, we received a letter from Tarike, and a part
of it went like this, word for word: “I also love the cards and the photos so
much. My family and I are so thankful to
you for sending your photos which made us get to know you better. Especially we love the picture of Emma. She is so beautiful. I wish if I could hold and hug her to
entertain with her. I always miss and
love you so much.” Now the beauty of
this story is that we have never met Tarike, and we have only corresponded and
sent support to her for a little over two years, yet this is how she
feels! Imagine Jesus planning this
three-way connection through us … and our granddaughter who is Emma’s mommy …
and Tarike. What intricate planning by
Him so this gift intended for our granddaughter will now be presented to Tarike
to help make her life better in a land so far away! But the best part of this gift is that it
will ultimately be presented to Jesus on His birthday! Is that the end of this story? No, no!
God has fanned into flame this desire to give gifts to His Son on His
birthday, and now more of our family are saying, “Can you do the same for us? It can be an individual – or a family. Just bless them on our behalf!” So there will not be the usual gifts under
some of our family trees this year ~ but there will be a card tucked in amongst
the branches telling Jesus what our birthday gifts to Him are this year … as if
He doesn’t already know! There’s
definitely no way to keep any of His gifts a secret from Him! You know the feeling we all get when we see
the smiles and excitement on the faces of those we love when they open a gift
that means so much to them. And in the
same way, Jesus wants you to see His smile and His pleasure when He receives
the gift you’ve chosen to bless Him with!
There’s no greater joy than giving to others, is there? Except when the recipient is the Prince of
Peace, our Savior, Christ the Lord! Have
you ever realized that you can make the Son of God SMILE? Yes, YOU!
Just be open to listening to His heart and you will have no lack of
opportunities to bless others in His Name!
This past Sunday we sang “Christmas Offering” for the first time – and
it will be our theme song for this month as we worship our Lord and King
together in His House. We raise our
voices with the songwriters and vocalists of Casting Crowns: “We bring an offering of worship to our King. No one on earth deserves the praises that we
sing. Jesus, may You receive the honor
that You’re due; honor that You’re due.
O Lord, I bring an offering to You.”
We just want to remind you that your Christmas Offering can be a gift to
someone in need, someone without a home or food, someone who is ill, someone
who gives their lives to share the message of Jesus’ love and gift of eternal
life with those who have not yet heard – or – you fill in the blank! Your Christmas Offering can be … YOU! It can be the gift of your life, your
worship, your obedience ~ sharing all God asks you to, with everyone He asks
you to, when He asks you to … in honor of His Son’s birthday!
REMEMBER . .
. THIS WAS OUR GIFT –
and STILL IS:
“For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is
given,
And the government will be on His shoulders.
And He will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace.”
~ Isaiah 9:6
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
Pastor Doug and Debbie
