DECEMBER 10 THE BEST GIFT By Stacie Leann Rhodes Executive Director of the Center for Financial Literacy, Liberty University
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8)
A friend recently shared a letter with me that reinforced some of my concerns for our current culture. The letter was written in 1959 from John Steinbeck to Adlai Stevenson. In his letter, he speaks of two Christmases: “There is one kind [of Christmas] in a house where there is little and a present represents not only love but sacrifice. The one single package is opened with a kind of slow wonder, almost reverence.” “Then there is the other kind of Christmas with presents piled high, the gifts of guilty parents as bribes because they have nothing else to give. The wrappings are ripped off and the presents thrown down and at the end, the child says—‘Is that all?’” He follows with a comparison of the second Christmas to Americans: “Having too many THINGS they spend their hours and money on the couch searching for a soul. A strange species we are. We can stand anything God and nature can throw at us save only plenty. If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much and would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy, and sick.” As I think through all my Christmas experiences, I can remember moments of sincere gratitude (first Christmas) and moments of selfish greed (second Christmas). I would imagine we have all borne witness to our own or others’ endless consumption of materialism with little to no enjoyment for the items received. My recent wrestling: How often do I treat the gift of God’s grace similarly? Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God .” We have been given an incredible gift —one to be held “with a slow wonder” and most certainly reverence: salvation, not condemnation (John 3:16-17). Yet how often do we discard this gift extended to us with a defiant look and question, “Is that all?” I pray this season reminds us of the significance of such a gift and the humility to ponder the eternal implications of our choice to accept or reject such a gracious offering.
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