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Sunday, March 10, 2013

So You Think You're God's Gift

Boxes_in_sheep_Gift_WrapWell, you are.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. Jn 10:27-29

We often think about Jesus being God's gift to us, especially at Christmas. Or we talk about giving ourselves to God, giving our hearts or our worship to Him.

Given To Jesus 
But when did you last hear a preacher say that God has given you to Jesus as a gift? I almost feel that I don't want to do any more than ask you to reflect on the fact that you are God's gift to Jesus.

But it is perhaps worthwhile thinking a little about gifts.

The purpose of a gift is to show love or appreciation so we usually offer the best gift we can give. Christina Rossetti expressed this idea in her poem In The Bleak Mid Winter which we often sing as a carol

What can I give Him, poor as I am? 
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; 
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; 
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

It should not really surprise us then that the Father would choose to give His Son the best, the pinnacle of His creation - mankind.

Precious In God's Sight 
Perhaps this doesn't sit comfortably with people used to thinking of themselves as sinners saved by grace.

But God has always seen us as the best of His creation. His observation at the end of the sixth day was no longer that what He has made was "good" but that it was "very good" (Gen 1:31).

Even after the Fall mankind remained the apple of God's eye.

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Rom 8:19-21

diamondWe are special, the most valuable thing the Father could gift to His Son - more precious than gold or diamonds. If we could only comprehend the depths of that truth it would transform our relationship with God and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Without losing our recognition of ourselves as sinful people before a holy God we must accept the value He places on each of us.

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