receive remembrances from loved ones. The reason they are appre ciated is because of the love known to be behind them. In the light of this season, consider what has hap pened in God's providing us His gift of inestimable love. Paul ex plains it, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). Do you see the plurality of these gifts? There are certain things that have to go along with the ability to re ceive. One is our attitude. Some times it is difficult to receive freely. Sometimes we have to learn to be as gracious in our reception as others are in their bestowal. Little children are often more honest and perhaps more direct than adults. I remember when I pur chased a gift for one of my young sons. I bought it excitedly because I thought he would enjoy it, and since I was sure I would enjoy it if I were his age. When he opened the package I was rather shocked to see that he was more interested in the box than he was in the gift itself. That puzzled me somewhat, and I suppose I felt a little hurt. Children are not always in a posi tion to receive graciously. Some times as believers we miss the op portunity with our relationship to God. A gracious recipient is one who receives all that God has to offer without requiring more or without avoiding the idea of not being appreciative. We are simply to say, "Thank you, Lord." There is an unmistakable bless ing in receiving. God drew up the plan. Christmas is really to magnify the day of the birth of Christ. He came into this world, taking upon
Himself the form of human flesh. There must be a value in giving as well as a blessing in receiving. John tells us, "In this was mani fested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (4:9-11). Many of us have set great store by the fact that there is a mutual involvement: we love Him because He first loved us. That is the response approach. Yet the Bible does not say that. We are actually told, "We love because He first loved us." This should give us a totally new outlook to the con cept. There should be an attitude of freely giving. How often do we give with some "string" attached? Perhaps there is the thought that someone else will respond by dem onstrating in some way their love for us. There is a feeling of another being obliged to us. There is none of that in God's giving. It is entirely voluntary and can never be dupli cated. There should be a way whereby we can give of our love without impressing people with the fact that we are doing it. We should be able to love whether or not there is a response. This is the way God loved. He even first demonstrated His love to us while we were at enmity with Him (Romans 6:12). His provisions are simply ours to enjoy by receiving. I believe the Bible indicates that God Himself received a blessing in doing what He did. Have you ever thought about this? This bless-
Page 38
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online