What is a Gift?

What is a gift?
allowance, alms, award, benefaction, benefit, bequest, bestowal, bonus, boon, bounty, charity, contribution, courtesy, dispensation, donation, endowment, fairing, favor, giveaway, goodie, grant, gratuity, hand, hand-me-down*, handout, honorarium, lagniappe, largesse, legacy, libation, oblation, offering, offertory, philanthropy, pittance, premium, present, presentation, provision, ration, relief, remembrance, remittance, reward, souvenir, subscription, subsidy, tip, token, tribute, write-off

These are the words that mean GIFT. But they do not tell us what a GIFT means. The following is to help us think deeply about the GIFT that God Gave Us.

Some of us are "Gift People" and some of us are "Card People". They often find each other and they often find that Christmas and Valentine's Day becomes rather sad.

You see, the card person goes from store to store to find the perfect card to attach to a gift, while the gift person goes from store to store to find the perfect gift to attach a card to. When they exchange, that which should make the other happy, here is what happens.
The card person takes the gift, removes the card and opens it and reads it forgetting the gift. The gift person takes the gift only to open the gift while sometimes forgetting the card. Givers are offended when, what they spent most of their time on is put aside for that which was less important to them.

As to God's Gift
He spent a great deal of time on His Gift and His Card. He composed a card to attach to His gift. The card is what we call The Bible. It took Him thousands of years to compose it and to be sure that it expressed His love for us. It is easy for us to concentrate on His gift (His Son) and to neglect His Card (the Bible) that is attached to it.

The Poets Thought
Thank you, God for the gift that men have marred!
Help us to not neglect your very special card.
Thank you for the years you took as you thought of us
Help us not to lose sight (amid the Christmas fuss) Of the value of the card that makes up your precious Book
May we take the time today(and every day) to just to look!
Thank you, again, for as we have often heard,
Your Gift and Card are both called THE WORD. (John 1:1)

A gift is not some trinket, bought at the last moment, in a gift shop at an airport. It begins with a heart of caring. Caring long before the gift was chosen, purchased, and wrapped. Think today about how much God cared, to take such time and to pay such a price and to prepare the Gift that He gave to us at Christmas time. -- Pastor George Van Sandt is a friend of the ministry of America's KESWICK and has been an instructor for the Keswick Institute of Biblical Studies

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 8; Daniel 8-10; 3 John

Think About This: The most glorious promises of God are generally fulfilled in such a wondrous manner that He steps forth to save us at a time when there is the least appearance of it.-- C. H. von Bogatzy