Good morning,
How long does it take a child from a rich family to ignore the carefully chosen Christmas gifts they are given? I remember many years ago, when our kids were young and we were still surrounded by our parents and other family members, that our Christmas tree also sheltered many gifts. On Christmas eve, we would have a light meal, sing songs, read the Christmas story, pray together thanking the Lord for his wonderful gifts and then begin opening our presents. It didn’t take long until the floor was covered with torn paper and opened boxes as the kids joyfully began opening the long awaited gifts. There was all kinds of excitement and thank you’s and boy sounds as they began playing with some of their new gifts. With all those choices, they usually ignored the more useful gifts, like cloths, to focus on what was the most fun. Sadly, some of the toys would even be broken that night and ended up ignored from then on. With that many gifts it was easy to ignore the ones that didn’t seem that important.
Paul was facing this same problem when he was writing to the Christians at Corinth. He had been sharing how important it was to be a part of God’s eternal plan and to have the gift of eternal life because of Jesus’ finished work. It seems that the Christians there, as children of God, had been given all kinds of spiritual gifts, but their focus in life was on themselves and not on the most important gift of all. They were like children playing with the spiritual gifts they were given, but were ignoring this wonderful gift of eternal life and the salvation that came with it. The ordinary aspects of obedience and sharing their faith with the lost was ignored because it was so much fun celebrating their gifts with their friends. They and we have been given the most wonderful gift a human being could ever get. Our sins forgiven, our guilt taken away, our place in life secure and an eternal home awaiting our arrival. They and we are surrounded by spiritually poor people who wonder if they will get anything of value in life. They may have a pretty tree, but they don’t see gifts there with their names on it. May the Lord help us to share the reality of our salvation with those around us who are poor and lost. Let’s celebrate the most important gift of all this Christmas.
II Corinthians 6:1 As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. 2 For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.
Roy Wisner
