Gifts or Giver?

(Photo from colorsongyarn.com)

We’re surrounded by so many blessings, we sometimes take them for granted. Generally, around the winter holidays, we see an upsurge on social media, extolling the virtues of thankfulness, and that’s great. Sometimes it even sticks and we find ourselves being mindful to be grateful on an everyday basis.

But, going a step beyond not recognizing the plethora of blessings God pours out on us daily, I ponder whether we often times look to the gifts of God, rather than to God Himself.

The church isn’t a building, it’s the people of God that gather together, the body of Christ. That’s blessing enough, in many circumstances, especially when it’s a congregation of hungry souls seeking after God’s best for everyone, led by a godly man or woman who won’t compromise with the world or ignore, or even hide sinfulness that threatens his or her congregation.

 

(photo from keywordsuggests.com)

But, as I look around, it sometimes appears that people look to, follow or even worship individuals within the body of Christ. Yikes!

We see how whole congregations fall apart when their leader falls from grace. We read how pastors of mega-churches are being investigated for financial fraud and mishandling of the funds their congregations have entrusted to them. When pastors are making millions of dollars a year from the giving of those who trust them, sometimes the very poorest among us, I have a problem with that. Not to say that pastors can’t prosper financially, but, I’ve often heard it said that God sends you more when you don’t let it stick to your fingers. There are too many needy people in the world that the church isn’t reaching, though giving may be at an all time high.

Looking at what some consider a polar opposite to the church, we have science, another incredible gift of God. How exciting to have the need, the drive, the ambition and intelligence to seek out the mysteries of God and His universe, the world around us, and our own bodies! It must thrill God to see us exploring all He’s given us. Observing the world around us can create peace and excitement. Discovery can be phenomenally fulfilling. Wonder is a beautiful gift in itself.

Yet, there are those who put science above the God Who gave it all to us in the first place, even denying that Someone greater than they can conceive, has orchestrated everything around us and within us.

I’ll never understand how the minds that can fathom what most of us find unfathomable and seek out great mysteries, can be locked into their own little paradigm so snuggly, that they can’t see beyond it.

Life doesn’t just happen. It’s created. To be created, there must first be a creator. That sounds like Logic 101 to me.

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” – Luke 11:13 (ESV)

We all have so much in common, but our thinking can be so diverse. It’d be silly to assume that everyone thinks like we do, yet many of us carry that myth well into adulthood.

(picture from theodysseyonline.com)

 Art and music are often such an integral part of our lives that we don’t notice it surrounding us. Yet, there are many of us who feel that these beautiful things are the substance of Life itself; enthralled with the places it takes us or the serenity or excitement it brings us; putting pleasure before anything else.

Money is certainly something people put first in their lives, giving their lives away in pursuit of it, giving it the authority of a god over their every day comings and goings. Some people put so much effort into acquiring money; they leave no time to enjoy what it can afford them.

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Working! We have workaholics who set no time aside for anything else, not family, not vacations, not even the God Who gave them the strong hands and the brilliant mind with which they themselves into an early grave, because they’re driven to work, work, work. I’m not pondering the reasons behind it, just that it happens.

Our children! Don’t get me started. How easy is it to put them first, before the God Who gave them to us?

(picture from catholiclane.com)

When we look to the gifts God gives us instead of looking to God Himself, we make those gifts into gods. One of the most important commands God ever gave us tells us: I am the Lord your God, you shall not have any other gods before me. He doesn’t instruct us this way because He’s arrogant and selfish, thinking more highly of Himself than He ought, though there is no one higher. He knows that we’ll miss out on so much that He has for us, if we serve His gifts instead of enjoying them. We can’t really enjoy them if we don’t honor the God Who gives them to us.

When our focus is so single-minded and focused on one gift, the others fade from sight, though they’re still there to enjoy if we can allow ourselves the freedom to look up and see them. When we focus on one gift – we become slaves to the gift and to how we think the gifts benefits us.

“Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves.” – Nehemiah 7:66 (ESV)

Are you seeking God for what He can give you? Are you seeking a relationship with the God Who gives? Or, are you denying yourself the opportunities to really enjoy everything life offers, by denying He’s the God of every good gift?

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Light…” – James 1:17 (ESV)

 

(photo from ccis.sg)

Watering Cans

(photo from flowersqueensny.com)

“…be not weary in well doing.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:13 (KJV)

I’m tired. In all my “well doing” – I grow weary. I’m not tired OF doing good, but, in the midst of doing it, I wear down. Sometimes, I’m too tired to cry. Most likely, I grow so tired because I’m not making time to recharge my batteries in the Word of God. I’ve begun to run on my own strength, which isn’t as built up as it should be. But, could it be that I’ve never learned to effectively set boundaries?

For all my well doing, am I giving more of myself than I’m pouring out to others what God has poured in to me?

What happens when the last drop of water in my watering can drips out in the midst of watering my houseplants? How do I continue? How can I possibly water the remaining plants with an empty watering can?

The same applies to everyone God has placed within my reach; within my realm of ministry. The only way God’s living water can flow through me to bless those I love, is if I allow myself to be filled first. If I neglect God’s Word, I have nothing to pour out to those who look to me for a kind word, a gentle gesture, a smile or a favor. All I can offer is the frailty of my flesh.

When I over-extend myself, I choose to put something or someone else before God. And putting anyone or anything before God makes them an idol. Often, we think of an idol as a statue that unbelievers bow before. But an idol is anything we allow to become a ‘god’, by putting it first in line for our attention before the true and living God. Even if that ‘something’ is good, or someone I love dearly, I grieve God by allowing them to reign on the throne of my heart in His rightful place.

It can become a vicious cycle to allow idols to swallow up your day (no boundaries), leaving you no time for God’s Word; and the less time we spend with God, the more likely we are to erect those idols.

What might you be putting first? Spend some time with God today and ask Him what idols you’re creating by putting them before Him. Enter His presence with a grateful, repent heart and let Him wash you clean – again and refill you with His Spirit.

Tripping On Number One?

Which of the Ten Commandments do we break most frequently? Do you lie every day? Perhaps steal on a regular basis? Commit adultery, even if it’s ‘only in your mind’?

In Exodus 20 we read the commands God gave Moses. God wrote them Himself on stone tablets (Exodus 31:18). God begins with what might look like the obvious, but the first commandment is one we commonly break, without even thinking about it.

‘And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’ –Exodus 20:1-3 and yes, I’m quoting the King James Version because it just sounds holier.

While reading Lysa Terkeurst’s Made to Crave this week, I’ve marked numerous quotes and even shared some on Facebook. I never realized how many verses in the Bible are, or can be, related to eating, quite fascinating, really. Think about it – the very first temptation Satan ever used on humans was food!

But at one point in the book she brings up the story of the rich young ruler that approaches Jesus saying he’s kept God commands since birth (quite a righteous man, isn’t he?) But he asks what more he needs to do to obtain eternal life. Many of you know the story, Jesus tells him to sell all he has and then to come follow Him. Many of us have been taught that this means God doesn’t want us to have money. Like Lysa, I don’t believe that for a minute. It was simply that his money came before his love for God, or he’d have been able to give it up and follow Jesus.

The ‘other gods’ we put before God are more than statues. Take a minute and ask God what you’re putting first, it may surprise you. I know it did me.