It is Christmas time!! This time of year is happy and joyful usually and the time of giving gifts. If you get a gift receive it graciously as a blessing from the giver and do not feel obligated or compelled to reciprocate. Receive the gift with graciousness and consider it a blessing. If you are blessed to get and give gifts be thankful as many families struggle financially and can not put presents under the tree or give them to friends.
Luke 6:38 is often thought of as referring to being for an offering to God but it can be used for people giving other gifts as well and it says "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Sort of a reaping and sowing thing. My motive for giving gifts is not to reap something but I do it because I love and appreciate my friends and it is my 'love language' so to speak. Acts 20:35 says ". . .it is more blessed to give than receive." Another verse on giving says "God loves a cheerful giver who gives from the heart" which is found in 2 Corinthians 9:7. It reads "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." The person who likely gave you your Christmas present did not give it so they would get something back. Keep that in mind. You do not have to feel bad that you did not have something for them.
As a former colleague and friend of mine said one day during a group noontime lunch Bible study at Fort Knox, Kentucky when I commented on the beautiful red apple in his lunch box he says "Here take it". I said "I can not take it. I was just saying how nice it looked." He said "If you do not take this apple you are denying me a blessing." I have never forgotten that. So in this season of remembering Jesus and giving just remember to accept the gifts graciously and perhaps drop the person a thank you note which is becoming a lost art,sad to say. But the Christmas season is about giving. You can also give in other ways besides actual presents under a tree. Just be thinking of the greatest gift of all. Jesus!
PRAYER: Lord I thank you for this season of giving. Help me to meet a need or bring cheer to someone who needs a small gift or a word of encouragement. Help me not hoard your blessings. In Jesus Name. Amen!
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