Jesus Christ Blog

The holidays are here and gift giving once again moves to center stage. It’s easy to become cynical about this because of the over-commercialization of Christmas, but, as always, there is truth hidden in the bright lights, the colorful boxes, and the rush of shoppers bringing home their treasures.

Where did all this gift giving come from anyway if it didn’t come from God? No, God and Macy’s are not in cahoots; it’s just that God started it all. God in heaven gave us the most perfect gift for all seasons, his only Son, who brought light to the world and forgiveness of sins through his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. But it doesn’t stop there. His is a gift that keeps on giving. It keeps on giving because his life is born in all who believe, and his presence in the world is perpetuated by the spiritual gifts he gives all believers by which we reach out to those around us.

Think about it: A big, beautifully wrapped box arrives for each one of us from God himself – a personal gift with our name on it. Inside is a special gifting through which we can touch the people around us by way of the words we say and the things we do. It’s called our “spiritual gift” but it’s really a kind of gifting that enables us to do something for someone else. This puts a whole new slant on gifts, whatever the season.

I can remember Christmases growing up where I would arrange all my gifts neatly into a pile on my bed after all the presents were opened. It was always a smaller pile than I anticipated, but it was mine nonetheless. Christmas, in spite of the joy and excitement, was always a little bit of a disappointment because the gifts ran out. There was always the last gift – nothing more to open. My gifts stopped with what I could play with (until it broke) or what I could wear.

But God gives gifts that help us become givers as well. That’s a big difference. His gifts to us enable us to turn around and enrich others. Gifts like mercy, faith, encouragement, wisdom, knowledge, healing, and discernment flow out of the brightly colored packages we unwrap every day from our Father. These are not gifts we pile up on our bed and look at. These are gifts that perpetuate the life of Christ in us. And they keep on giving for the rest of our lives, or as long as we use them.

This season, if you are able, give a gift that will warm a heart, but don’t forget the gifts we have from our Father that keep on giving all year long, and be just as intentional about receiving and giving those as well. What do you have, and who can you give it to?

 “For we are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Ephesians 2:10 

 by Rick Warren

How can you say thanks to God? Here are four suggestions:

1. Sing. Psalm 147:7 says, “Sing out your thanks to him, sing praises to God.” Nothing makes you more aware of God’s presence faster than praising God. You say you can’t sing? You don’t have to. The Bible says make a joyful noise. Even pigs do that when they eat! Some of you couldn’t carry a tune in a baggie but you can still sing to the Lord.You can sing to God in your home, your office, your car - or your shower! You can sing your praises shooting pool or washing dishes or planning a program. You can sing to God putting your kids to bed and getting up in the morning. Christianity is a singing faith. Did you know that more songs have been written about Jesus Christ than any other single subject in history? Why? Because he’s the one worthy of our praise.Singing is good for you too. Psychologists have discovered that singing praise actually lifts your spirits.

2. Serve. We sing with our lips but we serve with our lives. The Bible says, “Serve the Lord with gladness.” Hebrews 12:28 says, “Since we have a Kingdom that nothing can destroy, let us please God by serving him with thankful hearts.” Everything you have is a gift of God. Thank him through service - by using your abilities and talents to do something totally unselfish. When we serve God, it’s not a chore or obligation. It’s a privilege. We serve God in gratitude.3. Give. The Bible says, “Give an offering to show thanks to God. Give him what you promised.” The Bible says that the level of my giving shows the level of my gratitude. If I’m not giving, I’m not very grateful. Let me suggest an annual habit that works for me. Every year, I review, renew, and outdo my giving commitment:

–1. Review your giving commitment. I ask myself six questions:

• Am I just giving what I think I can afford to give, or am I giving what I know God wants to give through me?
• Is my giving this past year stretching my faith?
• Has my giving showed my hope of eternal reward or my interest in material things?
• Has my giving showed how much I really love Christ and his Church family?
• Has my giving represented a genuine sacrifice?
• Does the amount I’m giving express how thankful I am for my life, my family, my church, and my salvation?

–2. Renew your commitment. Tell God: “God, I commit to being a tither - 10 percent of all I make goes back to you. And I commit to becoming a more generous person.”

–3. Outdo what you’ve given before. Every year, I want to give more to God. I want to grow in my faith, my generosity, and my gratitude. As I give more to God, I see more of his blessing in my own life. So I try to raise that level.

4. Tell. Tell others about Jesus. Every time you tell somebody the Good News, you’re thanking God. Isaiah 12:4 says, “Thank the Lord, praise his name. Tell the world of his wondrous love and how mighty he is.” We have the greatest news in the world, and everyone needs to know it. You can start by sharing your own testimony of how God has worked in your life. 

Today, sing praises to God, serve someone without getting anything in return, give an offering to God, and tell someone about Jesus. When you do all those things, you’ll be giving thanks to God.

“I try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what I like or what is best for me, but what is best for them so they may be saved.” (1 Corinthians 10:33 NLT)

This is an important question to have in mind whenever we are talking to anyone: “What is best for this person?” It’s a way of both getting out of ourselves and being in a position to truly help someone else. It requires finding out more about the other person – asking lots of questions and paying close attention to the answers. My job is to gain insight into a person’s thinking so as to understand who he is, where he is at, and what he is trusting in. Only then can I have a real relationship with someone. If my primary focus is on me, and what is best for me, that doesn’t even constitute a relationship.

This doesn’t mean I never talk about myself. It means that when I do, it’s for the purpose of identifying with another person. Real relationships reveal holes in our lives that others can relate to. And if Jesus will accept someone like me, surely people can recognize that Jesus will accept them. But this only works when we tell the truth. We have to first introduce our real selves to people before we introduce Jesus; that way they can understand why we need Jesus. Out of real relationships, God has a chance to work.

Paul says that the essence of his impact on people is to introduce himself to them. As he puts it, “We commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:2 NIV) To commend himself is to commend Christ, because Christ is his all in all. It’s all embodied in the relationship. Think of it this way: All our relationships are godly because God is all wrapped up in the people he created. People are God’s priority. They’re ours too, if we are following him.

People can understand relationships, even if they do not trust them. Everyone wants a friend. Everyone wants someone to care. Everyone wants to know he or she can count on someone to be there. This is where Jesus picks up in true and trusted relationships. Our relationship with Jesus and with people is intertwined. Whether they know him or not, Jesus is the essential element in all our relationships. And we’ll know when it’s important for someone to know that. Most likely, they’ll be asking us to tell them.

Aim high. God places a high value on relationships. It is what makes up the stuff of eternity. Aside from God and people and the love that holds us together, what else is there?

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Jesus as quoted by Matthew 22:37-40) 

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jesus as quoted by John 13:34-35) 

“Whatever you want others to do for you, do so for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Jesus as quoted by Matthew 7:12) 

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward in heaven will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” (Jesus as quoted by Luke 6:35) 

“Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Jesus as quoted by Mark 10:43-45) 

“If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” (Jesus (after cleaning the feet of His followers) as quoted by John 13:14-15)

“When you give a gift to someone in need, don’t shout about it as the hypocrites do – blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I assure you, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone, don’t tell your left hand what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:2-4 NLT)

As purpose driven people, we should always be looking for opportunities to serve. Most of these opportunities come as we spontaneously respond to the needs of those around us. It can mean serving on a board or a committee, or signing up to serve in a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter – there are many of these opportunities especially this time of year – but an important part of being a servant is responding to the immediate needs of those around us. This is the type of service for which we rarely receive credit, which makes it even more authentic.

Servants don’t expect thanks for what they do. I’m sure it’s nice to hear it once in a while, but servants, when they serve, are just doing their job. If you find you need to be recognized for your service, you might want to take a second look at your motivation. True servants go about their work quietly and with little acknowledgement because they know their heavenly Father sees everything and their reward will come at the right time if they remain faithful.

A servant’s satisfaction comes from watching what his or her service enabled. Maybe it’s a homeless person’s appreciation for a Thanksgiving meal, or the smile on the new neighbor’s face when he or she is welcomed with a gift, or maybe it’s simply a brightening awareness on someone’s face that you are actually paying attention to his problem, taking his point of view seriously, and offering to help with a solution.

The truest kind of service is that which is anonymous. Jesus once said that when you give, don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. In other words, keep your giving as a secret even to yourself. Don’t use your service for self-gratification. Serve and don’t think twice about it. Move on to the next thing. God sees everything.

Maybe you have made a really bad choice a long time ago. Maybe you have hurt a lot of people in your life. Maybe you have done some things that you would rather not talk about.
 God knows all about them.   That’s the problem isn’t it? How are you ever going to be clean again? Those are the things that you run from, those are the thoughts that run through your head when you think about God. What torment you must feel what condemnation and judgment must come over you and how you must run from it and yet everywhere you run it’s still with you.   It doesn’t really matter what you have done.  Nothing you have done has been for any reason but to bring you to this very moment in your life to this very day.  

This can be the year you forgive yourself!  

You need to forgive your self.

Not God forgiving you, because in his eyes there is nothing to forgive, because he has only seen you as perfect, he has never seen you in anyway except the way he sees Jesus, and he sees Jesus as the perfect man. You are the one who has to forgive not God. God’s work is completed; it has been for two thousand years. It’s for us to catch up with God, we have to forgive.  We must FORGIVE and FORGET. When we forgive we are GIVING something to the one that we forgive (even ourselves), we give peace, understanding, comfort, and even salvation. It comes out of us to them, but that is not the end of it.  When we then forget that’s when we GET something in return and what we get is peace, understanding, comfort, and even salvation, and that comes from God.   The Lord’s prayer says forgive me as I forgive others and others are yourselves too. We have to do the complete work not just half.   

God forgave us when Jesus died.

All we have to do is go to God and tell him that we love him and that we want all that he has for us, all the joy, all the peace and understanding that a father should have for his children. We don’t have to be afraid any more that we are not worthy to stand in the presence of God. What God sees when he looks at us is our beauty; all he sees is Jesus, the perfect man.

The enemy has tried so very hard to keep this hidden. So that we would not know who we are and we would not run to God in our times of trouble. Run to him; don’t run from him. He is there waiting to take you in his arms and love you through all that you have to go through.

Last year I watched Billy Graham being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on television. Oprah told him that in her childhood home, she use to watch him preach on a little black and white TV while sitting on a linoleum floor. She went on to the tell viewers that in his lifetime Billy has preached to twenty-million people around the world, not to mention the countless numbers who have heard him whenever his crusades are broadcast. When she asked if he got nervous before facing a crowd, Billy replied humbly, 
No, don’t get nervous before crowds, but I did today before I was going to meet with you. 
Oprah’s show is broadcast to twenty-million people every day. She is comfortable with famous stars and celebrities but seemed in awe of Dr. Billy Graham. 

When the interview ended, she told the audience, “You don’t often see this on my show, but we’re going to pray.” Then she asked Billy to close in prayer. The camera panned the studio audience as they bowed their heads and closed their eyes just like in one of his crusades. 

Oprah sang the first line from the song that is his hallmark “Just as I am, without a plea,” misreading the line and singing off’-key, but her voice was full of emotion and almost cracked. 

When Billy stood up after the show, instead of hugging her guest, Oprah’s usual custom, she went over and just nestled against him. Billy wrapped his arm around her and pulled her under his shoulder. She stood in his fatherly embrace with a look of sheer contentment.. 

I once read the book “Nestle, Don’t Wrestle” by Corrie Ten Boom. The power of nestling was evident on the TV screen that day. Billy Graham was not the least bit condemning, distant, or hesitant to embrace a public personality who may not fit the evangelistic mold. His grace and courage are sometimes stunning. 

In an interview with Hugh Downs, on the 20/20 program, the subject turned to homosexuality. Hugh looked directly at Billy and said, “If you had a homosexual child, would you love him?” 

Billy didn’t miss a beat. He replied with sincerity and gentleness, “Why, I would love that one even more.” 

The title of Billy’s autobiography, “Just As I Am,” says it all. His life goes before him speaking as eloquently as that charming southern drawl for which he is known. 

If, when I am eighty years old, my autobiography were to be titled “Just As I Am,” I wonder how I would live now? Do I have the courage to be me? I’ll never be a Billy Graham, the elegant man who draws people to the Lord through a simple one-point message, but I hope to be a person who is real and compassionate and who might draw people to nestle within God’s embrace. 

Do you make it a point to speak to a visitor or person who shows up alone at church, buy a hamburger for a homeless man, call your mother on Sunday afternoons, pick daisies with a little girl, or take a fatherless boy to a baseball game? 

Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful you look when you’re looking for what’s beautiful in someone else? 

Billy complimented Oprah when asked what he was most thankful for; he said, “Salvation given to us in Jesus Christ” then added, “and the way you have made people all over this country aware of the power of being grateful.” 

When asked his secret of love, being married fifty-four years to the same person, he said, “Ruth and I are happily incompatible.” 

How unexpected. We would all live more comfortably with everybody around us if we would find the strength in being grateful and happily incompatible. 

Let’s take the things that set us apart, that make us different, that cause us to disagree, and make them an occasion to compliment each other and be thankful for each other. Let us be big enough to be smaller than our neighbor, spouse, friends, and strangers. 

Every day, may we Nestle, not Wrestle!

(Author unknown)