the GIFT GIVER
John 1:14, ‘The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.’ (MSG)
November 29th, 2023
He is the ULTIMATE Gift Giver!
Galatians 5:22-23:
Divine Love in all its varied expressions: Joy that overflows; Peace that subdues; Patience that endures; Kindness in action; a life full of Virtue; Faith that prevails; Gentleness of heart; Strength of spirit. (TPT)
“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance, about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.’ (MSG)
KINDNESS in action
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, ‘Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements, nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up. Love never stops loving.’
Kindness is a big deal. It is such a big deal that its counterfeit is also a big deal: being unkind. In fact, it is so big that an act of kindness is considered humane, and an unkind act is inhumane, both words derivatives of our human condition. It is characterized by words such as tenderness, compassion, benevolence, generosity, not to mention service. Unfortunately, our human condition, as in life, has grown pretty sour, and acts of kindness and being kind on this current landscape, are oddities, eccentricities, more unfamiliar than foreigners. But God calls us to greater than this, and therefore, He has gifted us another characteristic of Himself, which is kindness.
If we want to know what God says about kindness, we should simply look at how God has treated humanity, and we will know precisely what being kind is. The Bible says in Luke (c6:v35-36), ‘”Rather, love your enemies and continue to treat them well. When you lend money, don’t despair if you are never paid back, for it is not lost. You will receive a rich reward, and you will be known as true children of the Most High God, having His same nature. Be like your Father who is famous for His kindness to heal, even the thankless and the cruel. Overflow with mercy and compassion for others, just as your heavenly Father overflows with mercy and compassion for all.”’ (TPT) The Message version says, ‘Our Father is kind; you be kind.’ What flows out of God is grace. Love, unselfishness and goodness overflow too, as well as humanity, understanding, and sympathy. Those are qualities and attributes that a kind God bestows on mankind, the same mankind who is made in His image since the beginning of time.
We all have read about the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). The Good Samaritan was kind. The other individuals who walked past the man laying by the roadside, who had been beaten and robbed, were unkind, but the Good Samaritan was kind. What characterized his kindness? He went out of his way to care for a person who relationally, meant nothing to him, even at his own risk and expense. He knew him not, yet, first, he stopped. He took time out of his busy day and schedule, interrupting the mission he was on. He listened and observed the need the man had and determined to meet it. He cared. He busied himself with meeting the man’s needs, and when the man’s needs exceeded what he was able to do, he took him to the source, where the man could receive the most care. He then covered the cost—in other words, he paid—the price to meet the condition of the man’s greatest need: complete healing. Isn’t that the true picture of the kindness God showed to you and me, when we were yet sinners, He sent His Son to die for the unworthy?! God poured out His kindness on mankind, to save us from ourselves when we could not do it for ourselves.
And to take it another step further, every piece that weaves together this beautiful tapestry is woven with kindness, threaded through the needle of action. Kindness is active. Kindness is not only a noun; it is also a verb. We are called to do the same and be the same. For humanity today, kindness is an afterthought, it seems. People ooh and ahh when we hear and read about random acts of kindness. We think, ‘Oh, how kind that person was to do that. It was so kind that she said that. How kind he was just then.’ We seem surprised, amazed, intoxicated, by the realization that someone did something kind, when, in all actuality, we are to allow that to be our response always. We become more accustomed to violence and meanness and selfishness, unfazed by the boldness of bullies and the terror wielded by terrorists than we are by someone traipsing about in the sandals of a good Samaritan. Let’s practice more kindness, being more loving, offering more grace.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION:
“Why are you doing this for me?” Tears streamed down his face, unchecked, flowing like a stream. My question back to Ben: “Why wouldn’t we?”
His life hadn’t always been this sordid. He recalls a time—although barely now—when he owned a home and had a good paying job and was saving for the future. His wife seemed happy, and his kids were growing like weeds because they were being fertilized and nourished by their good life. Then the injury at work and the pain pills and forged prescriptions and the unhappy wife who chose his work partner over him and the kids diminished along with the happiness they once had. The rest was history.
When we met him, he had only been out of prison for a couple weeks and was already back on the dope. I happened to leave a chance message for an unknown man, asking if there was anything our organization could do for him. I added an invitation to a Christmas potluck we were hosting the following night. He texted me back that evening and said he’d be there. “I could use a little Christmas cheer,” is what he relayed.
He was incredibly shy, starved, coming down from whatever drug he had ingested. He was open to joining a sober living home, so we delivered him after the meal. Thus, began the lengthy love affair with his soul. We might be wealthy if we had a dollar for every time Ben exclaimed, “Why are you doing this for me?”
When he relapsed, we were there. When he relapsed again and lied about it and got kicked out of sober living, we drove him to a 21-day program. We sent sermons to him and Bible verses daily, and when he called, we answered. We prayed with him and cried with him and fought for him. We picked him up when he graduated the program and got him into a new sober home, and when he relapsed again and got kicked out and landed on the streets, we continued to pray for him and cried for him. We fought for him still. We visited him in the hospital and visited him at the rehab where they sent him. We prayed for him; we prayed with him. We took groceries and food and all his calls. When he violated parole and his officer called us, we went and met with them, and we would still be helping today had he not slipped out the back door and disappeared into the unknown. He was given a choice: these people take you to detox and then another sober home or you’re going back to prison. He is taking his chance, and in so doing, he is making a choice. But if he ever calls again—when he calls again (if his choices don’t kill him first)—we’ll take that call again too. I know we did our best to introduce Jesus to Ben, to plant a seed. I hope it grows a tree someday.
“Why are you doing this for me?” I hear in my memory. “Why wouldn’t we?” I hear in my heart. Why? Because it is what Jesus would do, and we are made in His image and instructed to be kind, as the Father is kind. Because it might show someone the way to Jesus, and that is why we are all on this journey, and because it takes more effort to be angry and unkind than it takes to be kind. And because it is what I would want someone to do for me. Kindness—it is underrated. But it doesn’t have to be.
Our Heavenly Father, the Creator of the Universe, Holy God, the Spirit of the Living God, Perfect One, is the ultimate gift giver. Just like we as parents are eager to give gifts to our children, our Father desires to give gifts that are beneficial and good and profitable for us. He delights in giving gifts, like kindness, to His children for our good, and ultimately, for His glory.
James 1:16-18, ‘So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life, using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all His creatures.’ (MSG)
