God Gives Good Gifts

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.

(Matthew 7:11)

Meditation

I can remember, as a child, the wonder of this time of year. I grew up as the oldest of a rather large family. We never had a lot of money, so expensive gifts were out of the question, but our Christmases were always happy. There was always a lot of love and family time. I never felt poor or disadvantaged, and that was because of my parents and grandparents. My paternal grandparent lived right across the street and made sure we kept Christ in our celebration. When I was about twelve, we moved away and after that, there was less Christ, but still love and family time. Our Christmas presents were never extravagant, but meaningful and desirable. My parents were always great at making sure we had everything we needed, and we were always grateful.

As fallen human beings, we are evil when compared to Jesus. We may not commit murder, rob banks, or break other laws, but we are still evil. Our standard is Christ and his Father in heaven. Likened to God, even Mother Theresa was a harlot. As good as she tried to be, she fell short of the goal, and so do we…every day. As evil as we are, we can still figure out how to give a good gift. We know enough not to give a five-year-old a loaded pistol and wait to see what happens. We’re not going to give them a poisonous snake to play with on the living room floor. So, if we’ve got that figured out, how much better do we think God has a good gift figured out for us?

God’s gifts are always what we need, but not necessarily what we want. That’s usually because the earthly things we want are not necessarily good for us and may even be harmful. The very first Christmas gift ever given was from the Father in heaven. He gave us the babe, wrapped in swaddling cloth, and laid in a manger. The gift of his Son is the reason we even have this season. If God can give us such a wonderful gift as our Savior, shouldn’t we be willing to ask for, and rely on his gifts for our everyday lives? When he doesn’t give us something we’ve asked for, shouldn’t we trust that knows something we don’t know about. It’s likely that it would have harmed us in some way. Since he loves us even more than our earthly parents, he knows what’s best for us.

Prayer Time

Heavenly Father, you give of yourself in ways we can only marvel at. We praise you for all you do for us. You bless us with every breath we take and with our daily bread. There are times, Father, when circumstances of this fallen world cause us to question your love. Loved ones tragically die or natural disasters wreak havoc on our lives and we’re left to pick up the pieces. Dear Lord, remind us, in those times of distress, that you will give us peace if we keep our trust in you. Just as we give our children things they want and enjoy, you will do the same for us. Only what you will give is, far and away, better than anything we can do. We forget that we are your children and you want to take care of us, but we have to let you. Help us to always be grateful for whatever you give us, because it will always be what we need. Thank you most of all for giving Jesus, who is our bread and sustenance. It’s in his name, we pray. Amen!