Giving

My family is under the smallest budget we have been refined to in years. I’m thankful that we have something to budget. For the most part, and to my surprise, it isn’t bothering me too much that Christmas gifts this year are minimal. Of course, there are moments. I was cleaning the kitchen today and our stockings, hung on the chimney with care, were begging to be filled. In my head, perhaps under my breath, I thought, “I hope I’m able to give them stockings this year.” In the most gentle voice I heard the Lord say, “There is no giving without me.”

I’ve written before about Bob Sorge’s book Secrets of the Secret Place. In the chapter No Plan B Sorge teaches that we have to come to the understanding that if God does not save us then we are not saved, if He does not heal us then we are not healed, etc... There is no plan B, He is it. That particular chapter has changed my life. As I was wiping down the counter and heard the Lord say, “There is no giving without me,” I understood the premise. As I pondered his statement, I thought about some of the gifts He has given.

He created us and gave us the breath of life. When I create idols I cannot give them life. I can try to make them have power, and I can try to give them authority in my life, but as the Psalmist writes, they cannot see, hear or breath. God is life and there is no life without him (Psalm 135:15-18).

He gives His word in a few forms. We have it written in the Bible, we have it spoken with His voice, and we have His son living in us (John 1:1, Col.1:27). He gives us His word and He is not a man that He can lie (Numbers 23:19). All God’s promises are Yes, and amen (2 Cor. 1:20).

God has given us His son because He loves us (John 3:16). And, the gift of grace and gifts of the Spirit.

The list is forever long ....

He is the Father of Lights, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (James 1:17; Matt 7:11)

“...how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:11; Luke 11:13)

So, as cheesy as this will be, no matter what we are giving this Christmas, whether it be frankincense, a song on a drum or a widow’s mite, let us come to understand that there is no giving without God because he has taught us what a gift is, what is means to give and how to be a giver.