“For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NASB)
As children, the closer it got to Christmas morning, the cleverer we got on secret missions, searching in the same way that a stranded stranger looks for water in a dry desert land, investigating in the absence of the adults all through our houses, trying to find where the gifts that would show up under the tree were hidden. Most of the time our top-secret search was unsuccessful. Parents were wiser than we thought, and they probably knew from experience that excited kids would go to extreme measures, employing all their supposition skill, trying to find the wrapped packages.
When we became adults and had children of our own, we definitely knew from the experience that we gained in our childhood how to hide the gifts from our children without them successfully finding them. The father of seven children, I know that the more children you have, the more difficult the duty of hiding Christmas gifts can be. Really, I don’t know how the hiding went undetected. My children, now adults, persons who read these meditations, they are probably saying, “What makes you so sure they were undetected? Are you sure about that Poppa?”
Let’s not leave out spouses. They do the same things! They hide gifts and they search for gifts. They are even bold enough to inquire outright, “What did you get me?” “Did you buy me anything?” “Do you need some suggestions?” And then there is the general statement which has the ulterior motive of making sure the husband has something. The general statement: “Oh, you love me so much, you don’t have to give me anything.” The general statement produces guilt for how you cannot, if you have the means, get a gift for the one you repeated the marriage vows, citing Paul’s writings In I Corinthians 13:4-8. You know the one that starts out, “Love is patient. Love is kind.”
Let’s get to the purpose of today’s meditation. Know that there are two gifts, my brother or sister in Christ, two gifts that are not to be hidden, regardless of the time of the year, be it Christmas or any other day on the calendar. What are they? First, and foremost, don’t hide the gift that you have received, the free gift of eternal life. Reveal the gift by living like you have been saved. Second, don’t hide the special gift that the Lord has specifically blessed you with as one of His own. Like the title above alerts us, there are “The Gifts Not to Be Hidden.” Don’t hide them from view, make them visible, valuable, and very much useful in kingdom building for Christ. You make the effort, and if you get tired, weak, or weary, God will provide you with the strength to successfully display your gift. Be God-conscious and Christ centered, my friend. Have a great Friday! Be blessed!
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking actual words of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and [c]dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (I Peter 4:10-11 NASB)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King