Posted by Pastor Jim on
December 16, 2011 07:35
It’s in full swing now. Despite all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season it is still a wonderful time of year. A time honored tradition of Christmas is exchanging gifts with the people closest to us. Not that the gifts need to be expensive, just a reflection of our love for them. Love always motives us to want to give to the object of our love. We see this pattern demonstrated for us in the very nature of God Himself. The prophet foresaw the coming of the Lord and proclaimed: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6). The Father went first and gave us the gift of His only begotten Son. And what a gift that was! The Son of God became the Son of man so that the sons of man could become the sons of God. Jesus walked this earth not as a gift to man but as a giver to man. He went to the cross and died in our place so that we could have the “gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17). Our righteousness is not the result of any works or accomplishments on our part. We are righteous by receiving the gift that Jesus gave us by faith. We didn’t earn it and we don’t deserve it. That’s why it’s called a gift. Then when Jesus ascended into heaven the Holy Spirit came to us. He is another gift to us and He came bearing gifts as well. All of these gifts are precious and reveal the heart of the ultimate Gift Giver. If we had to work or labor for these blessings then they could not be called gifts. Gifts are freely given and need only be accepted on the part of the receiver. We must shift our focus from trying to be worthy enough to merit God’s blessings to just receiving them by faith. Faith is our only work. Jesus made that clear in John 6:29 when He said: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” To do the work of God we must believe. We were created to be just like our Father in heaven Who created all things by His spoken word. After 6 days of creating the Bible says God “rested from all His work that He had made” (Genesis 2:2). What was the actual work God did for 6 days? Speaking. This confirms our work as well. Faith is demonstrated by speaking as II Corinthians 4:13 states: We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;” What we really believe in our heart is what we ultimately confess with our mouth. The work we are called to do is to speak what we believe in our heart. Isn’t that what the devil will challenge you on every time? “You can’t say you’re healed, you still have pain.” “You can’t confess you’re righteous, you still slip and fall.” What is the enemy of your soul trying to do? Keep you from your work. The work of believing which is manifested by speaking. This Christmas season, let’s not forget that all of God’s gifts to us are freely given and we need only receive them by faith. Now let’s get to work!