What Gift Will You Give?

One summer while visiting my grandparents and great-grandma, Oma, my great-grandma was crocheting an afghan for me as a gift. She pulled out her yarn and hook every night after dinner, turned on the lamp, put on her best glasses and began crocheting away until she was too tired. She would go off to bed early. After a while, my grandma would pick up the afghan and pull out every stitch that Oma had crocheted that evening, with all the mistakes, because she could hardly see. Grandma would re-crochet it, with perfection, back up to the point where she thought Oma had left off. However, it was never told to Oma what Grandma had done. When Oma had completed it, beaming with love and pride, she handed the ”perfect” gift to me.

She had crocheted the afghan, out of love, without expecting anything in return. She gave it to me to express to me that she loved me and cared about me. God gave us the gift of His son, Jesus. He was expressing to us how much He loved us.

When you give someone a gift, your hope is that they will make use of it and it will bring them joy. God gave us many gifts - Faith, miracles, love, life, forgiveness, peace, grace …. And the list goes on and on.

He expects nothing in return but hopes the gifts will result in acts of love and service and in hopes they would bring us joy. He accepts no returns. He gave to you freely, out of love, and whether you accept it or not, it’s yours for life.

When we are given a gift, we don’t ask how much we owe. We just accept it and say “Thank you.” When you have been given the gift of salvation, there is no need to pay the giver back or try to work your way closer to God. No effort on our part or “works” will help.

The fact that my grandma re-crocheted and changed the afghan daily was an act of love. My grandma gave the gift of love to Oma. She expected nothing in return. She didn’t need to say anything, she just needed to act. Her action was a gift of love and service for me to see.

God doesn’t need to tell us how much he loves us. His gifts, especially salvation, He bestows upon us to let us know how much He loves us. He does not give us the gift of salvation for our own benefit but to love and serve Him and others. An expression of thanks or gratitude is ours to give to Him.

Just as my Grandma was the reason for the changes to give the perfect gift, so God is the reason for changes in our lives when we accept His gift. He changes our lives by His gift of salvation given to us.

The best gift of Christmas is not in the presents but in His presence.

“ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God.” Eph. 2:8

“The gift of God is eternal life.” Rom. 6:23a