Is It About Getting or Giving?

Tell me about the best gift you received this Christmas.  Perhaps you got a new iPhone or tablet?  Maybe something bigger, like a new car?  Or even diamonds?  Maybe not, because sometimes the best things don’t cost the most, but are the gifts chosen or made with love. 

Still, I wonder if the very best thing you got this Christmas was the look on the face of someone you blessed with a gift?  Perhaps the hug or tears that followed – either yours or theirs!  Why is it that we feel better when someone receives a gift FROM us than when they give a gift TO us?  Maturity may have a lot to do with it, but I remember the first Christmas gifts I bought for my grandmothers with my own money, so many years ago.  I can even still recall what they looked like, even though they would be considered mundane by gift-giving standards.  They were small metal trash cans!  But they were cherished trash cans, and a gift I’ve remembered for decades.

God designed us to want to give gifts to those we love.  Even those who don’t know or recognize God for who He is have the same desire.  Jesus said this in the Sermon on the Mount:

So, if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.  Matthew 7:11

Not everything Jesus said about gift-giving is even recorded in the Gospel accounts.  But we can find this short, oft-repeated statement by Jesus recorded later, courtesy of the Apostle Paul:

I have shown you in every way…that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”   Acts 20:35

How many times have you heard that in your life?  Jesus wasn’t just encouraging us to give to others, He was telling us that we’re BUILT to give.  It does more for us than it does for them.  I know, you’ve heard that before, too.  But it’s true.  Giving makes you feel better in your spirit – that part of you that is connected to the all-time great Gift-Giver.

Do you recall that moment you trusted Jesus as your Savior?  The overwhelming sense of gratitude when you realized you had just opened the greatest gift ever given – forgiveness and eternal life, all wrapped in grace.  Did you smile or cry?  Your response is what made the Father’s sacrifice for you all worth it.  That’s what gift-giving with love is all about.

If you missed the boat this Christmas and worried more about what you were getting than about what you were giving, there’s still time.  Gift giving isn’t limited by the season.  Start tomorrow for next year!  But pause this one last time and imagine the look on the faces of the shepherds or magi as they gazed on the little face in the manger.  In your mind, are there tears or smiles?  Maybe both.  That’s what giving does.

Jacob