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)
December 13th, 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)
FAITH That Prevails
It is my guess that mankind’s definition of FAITH and God’s definition are words similar but worlds apart. Webster says Faith is confidence or trust in a person; belief that is not based on proof; faithfulness; hope; loyalty; conviction; assurance; certainty. All of those are great explanations and God’s Word also mirrors those clarifications. But the One Who wrote the Book on faithfulness is the expert on the subject.
Faith encompasses so much, but its deepest intent is not widely recognized. We place faith in many things—some so unworthy in which to put our faith, but we are conditioned to do so. We place faith in the stock market or in other people or in our person or in the anchorman or weatherman or our horoscope; even in the chair we sit down on or the stairs we climb. We can have faith in a higher being or community of believers, a church or denomination, doctrine or religion.
I think what God desires is that our faith be focused on Him and fulfilled by Him. God created each of us out of dirt and His breath, and placed inside every single human being, a hollow to be truly filled only by Him. We attempt to fill those voids with many other substances, people and things, but they remain empty; and we linger incomplete and unfulfilled and searching until we let the Lord inside to fill our God-sized, God-shaped holes. Upon choosing Jesus, an entire new world blossoms before us—one in which faith really matters. Because I think true faith is a wholehearted trust that takes God at His Word, that believes without seeing and having proof, and always, always hopes. Hebrews 11:1 says, ‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.’ It means that because of faith, we have full confidence in what God said and completely assured even though we may not see what we are believing in or for.
Faith leads to faithfulness. There is none capable of faithfulness like our Heavenly Father. Do you know He keeps every Word to you He ever promised? He is committed to you, and He is committed to fulfilling everything in your life He purposed and plans for you. If His promises, plans, and purposes fail in an individual’s life, it is because of the individual, not because of Almighty God. He is a good God and He is faithful in His justification and redemption of mankind. He is faithful in His pursuit of the prodigal heart. He is faithful in His forgiveness of our sin and the second and fifth chances He gives each of us without prejudice. Every other person, entity or plan will give up, fail, walk away, but God will not. Ever. If He is a distance removed, it is because you left, not Him.
As humans, we can have faith and be faithful, but it often is tainted. We are made in His image, and we can learn and choose faithfulness, but because we are broken, our faithfulness is flawed. I desire faith—to take God at His Word—and I desire faithfulness—to be true to my word, but I all too regularly falter and my trust wavers and my trustworthiness stammers and stutters.
How do I, how do we, learn to have faith and to be faithful? By knowing God and having a personal relationship with Him and by spending time with Him. As in any relationship, quality and quantity of time develops a stronger bond and a deeper desire to be faithful to the developing connection. Furthermore, by being in God’s Word, we receive instruction and insight through His responses to us, and we are able to follow in His faithful footsteps and mimic His attributes. Not only does our faith benefit us, but our faith benefits others, and I believe, Holy God is overjoyed with a growing and enduring faith in His children.
2 Timothy 2:13, ‘But even if we are faithless, He will still be full of faith, for He never wavers in His faithfulness to us!’ (TPT)
PRACTICAL APPLICATION:
The door slammed, the curtain closed, the lights went out, on yet another relationship. He had lost count of how many, by now. It would be his last, he swore under his breath. Whether it was his wandering lust or hers, every single hookup eventually succumbed and failed. In fact, the first time a significant other cheated on him, he broke any breakable item within reach (and would have likely cracked her in half too if he could have caught her). That will be the first time and last time for that, he muttered to himself repeatedly. But because he wasn’t honest with himself, or others, that ‘what is good for the goose is good for the gander’ and what can one expect from someone who is also an unfaithful person, the lying and adulterous liaisons continued to occur. Never again, he mumbled, as he packed his final bag and loaded it in the truck. Never again would he start over. Never again would he put himself in a place of being left. This time, he’d do the leaving.
But that required him to sit down and take a long hard look at his life. His earliest memory was the retreating back of his father. Next went his mother. Foster parents and caregivers in group homes were always leaving because he wasn’t …enough. Cute enough, young enough, old enough, smart enough, good enough, obedient enough…enough. He occupied more bedrooms in his childhood than most people occupy houses in an entire lifetime. The final home he was placed in was with a good, kind and decent family, and because he was so frightened of being left again, he crept away in the middle of a very cold night so they didn’t have the chance to reject him. Living in a shack on an abandoned street corner was safer and less lonely than all the places he’d lived, because no one had opportunity to turn their back, to leave, to demonstrate faithfulness and love and tenacity and then cancel it and him. Maybe he hadn’t learned anything else in this life, but he had learned how to protect himself and how to be the one to leave and vacate relationships and never let anything grow any deeper than skin deep.
It was in this place of discovery and brokenness, excavating through years of deceit and faithlessness, hurt and betrayal, that he recognized he needed to make a choice. He could not live like this, isolated, detached, withdrawn. He’d rather die. But he didn’t want to die. He kind of enjoyed living. If he were going to choose life over death, then he needed to make some different choices. And the vast change needed to happen within. That is when he was introduced to Jesus, and he thought to himself, ‘Heck, I tried everything else, and nothing has worked. I don’t seem to live very well with others, so maybe I can have an imaginary ‘friend’, and if this Jesus is everything He is cracked up to be, then perhaps I will have found a solution and a ‘roommate’. Jesus became all that and more and filled in all the cracked cervices and empty places, and He never leaves.
In fact, the turning point was happenstance. He was scrolling through the threads on YouTube and chanced upon a message that talked about God the Father Who loved humanity so much, He gave His perfect and only Son to die a sinner’s death and take all the sin—past, present and future sin—to pay the ransom required to redeem mankind. His attention was piqued when he heard the words, ‘You will never see His back. He will not leave you or ever walk away. Even when you are unfaithful, He will always be faithful to you.’ He got down on his knees and immediately gave his heart and his life to Jesus. Anyone who dies for another to prove a promise that He will never forsake should be a shoo-in, he mumbled.
That’s been many years ago now. He has his own church and spends his days (and nights) telling others about the extravagant grace and faithful love of Jesus, the only One Who truly never leaves, Who is wholly faithful and true.
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 faith, 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)
