only hope.” You cannot buy salvation. You cannot work for it. There is noth ing you can do in order to merit it by yourself. It is God’s free gift. Some of you have known the Saviour for some time. Are you treasuring fel lowship with Him day by day? In a certain home a father and his daughter were inseparable companions. They tried to take a walk together every night after dinner. Then one evening the daughter said, “Daddy, if you don’t mind, I have something to do tonight. Maybe tomorrow night.” So the next night they went for the walk. But the night after that sh6 said, “Daddy, if you don’t mind I have something to do tonight. Maybe tomorrow night.” Two days went by and gradually there was a rift. A week went by and then a month and then two months. The father and his daughter had not had their walks together for nearly three months. Then Christmas came. When the daughter presented the gift to her father, she, like my daughter, was most eager in anticipation to see whether or not he would like it. As he opened the present, he discovered a lovely pair of slippers. It was obvious that not only had she wrapped the present herself but also she had made the shoes her self. And with eager expectation, she looked in his face and said, “Daddy, do you like them?” In that moment he realized that in those evenings when they had been accustomed to having a walk together she had been going to her room and working on this gift for him. Putting his arms around her he said, “Yes, darling, I love these greatly. But,” he said, “I would much prefer to.have had you!” God is not so much interested in the fact that you had charge of the Christ mas play this year at church, or that you sang in the cantata, or that you have been busy doing this thing or another. He wants you first of all. God, who has given everything He has to us, only asks that- we give ourselves in return to Him. God grant that it may be so in our lives this day and all our days until Jesus comes and these earthly shadows flee away. 24
Gift That Keeps Giving (cent.) from the Father of lights, the Origina tor and Creator of all light. If ever there was anything the world needs is is light. Light dispells darkness; light brings peace, knowledge and hap piness; light brings purity. When you think of all of the filth and degrada tion on every hand, the immorality, the sexual impurities, how we need the Lord Jesus Christ. “In Him,” the Bible declares, “is no darkness at all.” “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Not only is our Almighty God the great Giver, but with Him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turn ing. The word “variableness" appears nowhere else in the New Testament, except here in James 1:17. It means “immutable,” that which never chang es. What else do you know in this life that is always the same? You may receive some gift of clothing or ap parel. It won’t be long, however, be fore it will go out of fashion. Styles are changing constantly. It used to be that this wasn’t so much true with men, and now they’re even changing masculine clothing. Then, the laws of our nation are constantly changing. That which was once legal has now become illegal, and vice versa. Boun daries of countries are constantly changing. Even people are never the same. Yet in a constantly changing world, we have a changeless message concerning a changeless Saviour. Remember the gift I mentioned which my daughter gave me? It wasn’t a very practical remembrance, but I treasured it greatly. Supposing as she presented it to me I said, “Now, sweet heart, I want to pay you for this. I want to buy it from you.” Of course, she could have been confused. No doubt, she would have responded by saying, “But Daddy, you can’t buy it, it’s a gift! I want you to have it because I love you!” So God holds out His Son Jesus Christ today and says, “I want you to have Him as My Gift. If you reject Him, you have rejected your
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