Three Gifts From God

A present is beautifully wrapped. It is given to you freely. You can do whatever you want with the present. You can accept it, open it and use it. You can refuse to accept it, ignore it and to you it does not exist. You can accept it, not open it and put it on a shelf where it remains day after day after day, untouched, unused. When does the present become a gift? I believe it is when it is accepted by the recipient. A gift is something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone.

A gift is usually a pleasant thing to receive and we thank the giver immediately. I guess the only time a gift is not appreciated is if it is atrocious, like a statue of a dragon with a clock in its belly, or an ugly candy dish or velvet Elvis portrait. I think those are called “regifting.” Or perhaps you are given a pet and you really do not want the responsibility of house training, obedience training, or cleaning up messes this gift may leave for you. Those gifts may be something we would rather not possess and at times we have to graciously determine how to handle the generosity of the giver without hurting feelings.

Often when I receive a gift I am surprised. Unless it is a birthday party or Christmas morning, the receipt of a gift can be unexpected. Gifts make us feel loved and appreciated. It is a good feeling that we have been remembered by the giver and that they thought enough of us to select what they felt would be a perfect gift. I want to talk today about the most perfect gifts we can ever receive. Those gifts are from God because He loves us and wants us to have the very best. We can trust that He will give us what we need in order to become the person He created us to be.

The first gift is that of salvation. Before the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, in order to atone for one’s sins, an offering of a perfect sacrifice must be made, an animal without defect or blemish. God provided Jesus as the perfect sacrifice. The blood He shed on Calvary was for the forgiveness of all of mankind’s sins – past, present, and future. Animal blood sacrifices had to be made over and over again and did not remove sin, but only covered it. When we accept the saving grace of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and removed from us as far as the east is from the west. Not only are our sins forgiven, we are given an eternal life with God in heaven once our time on earth is over. Because the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from all unrighteousness, we are able to stand before God.

In addition to the gift of salvation, God has blessed us with our Counselor, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us power -

• Power to Know: help us understand the Bible’s teachings about God and Jesus Christ.
• Power to Do: perform the will of God and share the truth with others.
• Power to Survive: help us resist the evil power of Satan and his demons.

The Holy Spirit indwells us from the moment we accept Jesus as our personal Savior. Daily as we lift our prayers to God, we must ask for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. The greatest need of the born again Christian is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When we are under the control of the Holy Spirit, we will always glorify Jesus Christ. He will be exalted in our speech and in our behavior. The apostle Paul issued an imperative command when he wrote, “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). It is our duty and responsibility to be under the constant influence and control of the Spirit of God.

Because the Christian life is a supernatural life, the only way to live it is by means of supernatural power. God must empower us to live with His power. He brings us to life, and then He indwells us and enables us to live His kind of life. When we obey His command, He gives us His presence without limit. The filling of the Holy Spirit is His enabling. It is from this divine enabling that God the Spirit produces in us love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, self-control, etc. He produces in us the likeness of Jesus Christ. Are you “under the influence?” Are you plugged in to your “power source?” What characterizes your life?

The third gift I will cover in this blog is the gift of The Word. Through the inspiration of God, His Word has been with His people for generations. The Bible is a treasure of knowledge and instruction that covers historical events and direction for living the Christian life. Scripture tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16 that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Why did God give us the Bible?

• So we can know who He is. Psalm 100:3
• So we can know that He is the One and only true God. Jeremiah 10:10
• So we can know His words are always true. Psalm 119:42, Psalm 119:74
• So we can learn about people from the past. Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 10:6
• So we can understand we are sinners. Romans 3:23, Ecclesiastes 7:20
• So we can know that Jesus is God and the son of God. 1 John 5:5, John 1:1
• To show us we need a Savior. Acts 4:12, 2 Corinthians 5:21
• So we can know how to live. Proverbs 8:33, Psalm 86:11

These three gifts are for anyone who will accept them. God does not expect you to perform certain works before you qualify to receive these gifts; He is offering them to you. All you have to do is accept these gifts and they are eternally yours and can never be taken from you. Even if you have no physical Bible, just as many countries in the world strictly forbid Bible ownership, you can commit the Scriptures to memory and still have the presence of His Word in your life.
So, have you received these gifts God has offered? Are you allowing the gifts to make a difference in your life? Or are the gifts in a box on the shelf, untouched and unused? My prayer for you is that you open each gift, use it, and thank the Father for loving you so much that He gave these gifts without conditions attached and not requiring you to work for them. God bless you as you are realizing, either for the first time or as a reminder, just how much God loves YOU!

Candy