Don’t Return the Wrong Gift

Don’t Return the Wrong Gift

John 1:11. …His own received Him not.

One of the hallmarks of Christmas is gift giving. Some make known that they are following the pattern of the Original Gift Giver, the Originator of all things, God Almighty. Judgment will tell the tale of whether that is true in the end.

Some gifts are long lasting and are passed down to another generation and others may be rendered useless before nightfall on Christmas day. Some gifts are for gags, for laughs and some are the entranceways into life altering lifetime relationships. Some gifts are expensive and some come from ‘Everything’s a Dollar’.

In the gift giving transaction, there is a giver and a receiver. Givers can give with the very best of intentions, but a gift given has no guarantee of a receiver’s approval or acceptance. A receiver can reject the most fitting gift given to them, and do so, sometimes with something as simple, yet powerful as a look.

After Christmas, we stand in line to take gifts back for refunds or swap, substituting one item for something else. Gifts may be returned because ‘it was not the one I wanted’ or a gift may be defective or ‘I thought I wanted it but now I don’t’.

To turn one’s nose up at a multicolored Christmas tree tie or the umpteenth Christmas Santa mug or bag of new socks is one thing, but to reject the only gift leading to eternal life is another.

Jesus is the gift that God gave to take away the sin of the world. (John 1:29, 3:16) Peter boldly declared, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

The toys, trinkets, and turtleneck sweaters of life have their place, but in the process and pull of time, they teeter, totter, fall down and apart, and then disappear forever.

The one thing left is the soul of man. The soul is inextinguishable, for it came from an inextinguishable God who made it thus. How shortsighted, we are to focus more on the temporariness of this life and fail ourselves by allowing our obsession with satiating our hunger for happiness today to blind us from considering more the huge hereafter, and especially our particular place in it.

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.” (Matthew 16:26-27)

There is no real substitute for Jesus. It is not possible to swap Him for something better, for there is nothing better. He who made us in His image and likeness, came down to save us, by sacrificing His body, shedding His blood at Calvary’s cross to give us the gift of eternal life.

Sadly, I have hurt the feelings of others by my former far from righteous callous conduct in rejecting their heartfelt gifts to me. Now some people may be as I used to be, very finicky, downright picky, or even arrogantly particular. To be honest, I was proud, selfish, and ungrateful. The proper diagnosis would be a heart void of love, because my life was truly void of Christ.

I thank God, for Jesus and His healing mercy and gracious delivering power, for He healed my wayward will when He delivered my soul from the grip of sin. Even He, was a gift that I once rejected when I heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, about His great love for me and did not act on it because I was errantly enamored with things that could not eternally satisfy. How foolish I was to return the wrong gift in rejecting God’s Son.

I praise God that He called and sent preaching preachers, who kept proclaiming the Gospel, until that day when I said in the words of this song,

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
Sweetest comfort of my soul;
With my Savior watching o’er me,
I can sing though billows roll.

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
Let me view His constant smile;
Then throughout my pilgrim journey
Light will cheer me all the while.

Take the world, but give me Jesus;
In His cross my trust shall be,
Till, with clearer, brighter vision,
Face to face my Lord I see.

Oh, the height and depth of mercy!
Oh, the length and breadth of love!
Oh, the fullness of redemption,
Pledge of endless life above!

In my own words, “In the morning when I rise, at night when I close my eyes, just give me Jesus. No food on my table or fancy clothes with designer labels, just give me Jesus. No toys or no tree, I can be happy as I can be, if you just give me Jesus, the One who died for me.”
Don’t return the wrong gift, keep Jesus forever in your heart.

RevLDReed
I Owe Jesus
12/24/07