The GIFT Giver
This Season, Experience the ULTIMATE Giver of Gifts
Ephesians 2:8, ‘For by grace you have been saved! Nothing you did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the love gift from God that brought us to Christ!’ (TPT)
December 9th, 2022
the Gift: Forgiveness
Something in the air had changed. Almost as if during the heat and brilliance of day, night had fallen. Dread was palpable and the shadows ate the openness. Even the faces of His flowers drooped, turning away from Him, and the birds stopped singing, the waters stopped lapping and the breezes stopped breezing. Something had changed. The Giver let Himself slowly down the rungs of His ladder and descended to the earth from His treetop high above everything, a sadness enveloping everything He felt. Once upon a time, He had wanted to look over all He had made, but not today.
He began walking in His garden in the cool of the day, seeking the beings He had made, with Whom He had felt such joy. It seemed like just moments ago, they had blinked at Him with enormous eyes of gratitude and understanding, as they inhaled His breath and exhaled newness of life.
He already knew what it was, He feared. He had given everything to them. Everything He had made, He had placed in their care. Except for one thing. The tree. Within the tree was life, and within the tree, was also death. Too much for the beings’ minds to comprehend: the knowledge of both good and evil—the only thing the Giver would not give and would keep just for Himself because it was too much for His creation to grasp. He dreaded He already knew; it was the one thing they would want even though they had everything else He had made at their fingertips.
Purposefully, He wandered toward them, the silence screaming back at Him the loudest noise He’d ever heard. Usually, they ran toward Him, gleefully, playfully, eager to be in His presence. Sorrowfully, He watched them hide behind the tree, unaware He could see them anywhere. “Where are you?” He called out, His voice echoing on the wind even though He already knew. Shyly, they stepped out from the shadows, hiding one behind the other and covering their nakedness with their hands. He didn’t want to ask the next question, as it fell from His lips. “Did you eat from the tree like I told you not to?”
At once, they began to blame each other while pointing at the serpent sneakily gliding away. “Why, that snake!” the Giver thought to Himself, sadly unsurprised. He swallowed deeply, choosing His chastisement carefully. Every word He had to utter hurt Him far more than it hurt them. They had no idea—everything now had changed, and a new Plan had to be developed. The Giver felt all the hopes He had dreamt and all the memories they had made slip from eyes and travel down His cheeks. He had so much more in store for His creation than He had been able to share yet, and just like that, it was over. He stared at His beings, so much love still welling in His heart for them. Even though it hurt so desperately inside, His love for them was still so great that it ached and pulsed within Him.
They watched the Giver with guarded, wary eyes. He trudged to a stand of trees where He reached up as they watched Him. Picking fig leaves from the trees, He knelt to the ground and began to weave them together, fashioning clothing to disguise their bare shame. As He handed to His beings what He’d made for them, He surmised with agony: nothing would be the same, ever again
Colossians 3:9-10, ‘Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with His label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete.’ (MSG)
