“Come they told me a new born King to see. Our finest gifts we bring to lie before the King, so to honor Him.” Those are words from a song we sing in December about a little drummer boy and a gift. The boy has nothing to give to the new boy King born in Bethlehem except to play his drum. So he played. The story is the story of Christmas. It is not a story of receiving but of giving. It is not a story of wise men bringing gold and riches but of a poor child bringing himself to Jesus. It is not a story of the law of giving but of the love of giving. The boy has only the talent that God gave to him. The gift is using the talent from God to glorify the Son of God. The story is the true story of Christmas.
There is, in the book of Acts, the story of Peter and a lame man at the gate of the temple. As Peter and John passed by the man, Peter said, “Look at me. I do not have silver or gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” The man, lame from birth, went into the temple with them – walked leaping, dancing and praising God. In Mark and Luke there is a story of a window and her mites. As rich men passed and placed large gifts in the temple treasury, the women threw in two mites (pieces of copper money). Jesus said to the disciples that the women gave the most because the other gave a portion of their wealth while she gave all she had.
The stories are the true story of Christ. God sent the Holy Spirit to put the Lord Jesus into Mary. Mary gave to the world the child Jesus. Jesus gave to the world a visual example of the Love, Mercy and Grace of God. After Jesus ascended into heaven He asked God the Father to send to us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings to us gifts and with those gifts we glorify Jesus, and Jesus glorifies the Father. But how do we glorify Jesus with the gifts from the Holy Spirit? By using them to give gifts to the body of Christ. By using them to be an example to the world. By using them as gifts for our Lord and King. If we are celebrating Jesus, let us give gifts to Him.
All things that are us, that we hold, that we claim as ours are gifts from God. Of existence itself is a gift. When I give to my wife, I am sharing gifts from God and am receiving from her gifts that she is passing on. When I am serving customers or my fellow employees at work I am sharing gifts that God gave to me. The gifts are ability but also life, mobility, understanding, wisdom, safety and too many more to list. The gifts that others share in service to me also are gifts given to them. We do not always speak to each other in words that express the gift exchange, but none the less they occur constantly. We sometimes say thank you but most of the time it is a learned response and we do not think about the truth behind the words.
It is a good thing to remember the things that God has given to us and be thankful. It is also a good thing to look at everyone that touches our lives and remember what thank you truly means. Thank you for sharing with me the gifts that God has given. It is not only a good thing to do for friends in Christ but also for those searching. Just because someone does not realize that what they are sharing is a gift from God, don’t mean we should not thank them and thank God for them. When you say God bless you to someone, even if they do not believe, you are asking God to give them what they need. And only God, through the Holy Spirit, gives understanding. It is a gift from God to be the one sharing with another when they receive the understanding. It greatly affirms the faith of the faithful.
“Come they told me a new born King to see. Our finest gifts we bring to lie before the King, so to honor Him.” Remember the gift does not honor the deliveryman, but the true giver. The gifts we bring are to honor Him. We honor Him when we do an honest days work with the life he has given to us. We honor Him when we thank someone for the giving of his or her time to us, because the time was a gift from God. It is a simple truth that is sometimes hard to remember. It is so easy to look at things as obligation and lose the joy in them. It is also so easy to look at the services of others as their obligation and not be thankful. Thankfulness itself is a gift to our Lord. As the gift came from Him through another, the thankfulness also passes back to the Lord. Give, receive and be thankful so to honor Him.