What Is A Gift?
February 13, 2002
Does a gift have strings attached?Let's say I give you a new Car. It is yours to do with as you please. You can use it, loan it, or even sell it. Without strings it's a gift.
If I give you a new car with conditions; you can't sell it, loan it, or drive it to church. Would the car be a gift? Absolutely not! It would be a lever to control you?
Let's say I give you this car but you must be willing to take me wherever I want to go? Would the car be a gift? Absolutely NOT! It would just be a personal agreement where you have to earn it?
Now lets say, for my daughter's 10th birthday I give her the bedroom suite she has always wanted, then I tell her, "Now you must dust every day and keep your room immaculate. You must also help me with some of the housework and cooking." Was the bedroom suite a gift or a tool to manipulate her?
Naturally we want our child to take care of a gift and we want their help sometimes. But do we want to use controls to get them to perform? Absolutely NOT!
If we use leverage to get them to perform then we can't reap the JOY of feeling their love and their appreciation.
Through these examples it is quite clear:
A GIFT has no strings attached.
A gift does not have to be earned!
Now for the Gift Of Salvation:
As a youngster I was taught that I must do this and that or I won't get to go to heaven. I was very uptight most of the time. I was trying to do everything right so I would be worthy of heaven. This struggle was a burden and it consumed me and my time. I was doing good things out of a selfish desire to get to heaven. So how could my behavior glorify God when it was self-seeking?
I personally struggled to understand many scriptures concerning this subject. As I searched for a clear understanding I was continually reminded that if a person could earn eternal life by works or behavior then there would have been no need for Christ to suffer on the cross. If being good and doing good works could get us to heaven then Christ died for nothing!
As I grew in Scriptural knowledge I became even more appreciative of the wonderful Gift of Salvation which God gave to me.
Now all my works are not self-seeking but are strictly done out of appreciation, love, JOY. and a desire to "glorify" My Lord and Savior. I desire to live to serve Him.
Which do you think God enjoys the most?
A self-seeking attitude? Or a joyful, appreciative, loving attitude of serving Him?
See poem A Gift of Salvation
Copyright © 2000
Mary Katherine Kohl
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