The Best Gifts You Ever Receive

Christmas is almost upon us!  Some well organized types have long since finished their shopping. The majority of us busy folks are entering the week of last minute scrambling to find the perfect touches for gifts for our loved ones. I do love this time of year because the overall mood of the season is hopeful and the heart is turned toward thinking of the needs of others. I believe this in itself lends a special quality to Christmas gifts and distinguishes them from other types of gifts given throughout the year.
At work we reminisced about being children and trying to figure out what was inside those gifts under the tree. Some of us were "peekers" and others didn't dare. Have you ever received a gift inside a gift? I'm referring to clever packaging designed to conceal what really lies underneath; the recipient opens the gift only to find another box inside with another gift to unwrap. I'm here to tell you that this how God wrapped his most precious Christmas gift! There is a unique gift inside the 'gift of Christmas' for each one of us.
The obvious gift at Christmas for all of us is Jesus Christ. He was in fact a gift. John 3:16 tells us, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten Son so whoever  believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." Salvation is a gift. It is not something you can earn by being good. Why? Because none of us is good when compared to a holy God.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:8-10)
The second half of this scripture reveals the 'gift inside the gift' that God has for you. Once you accept the freely given gift of salvation from God, he has something special handpicked inside just for you. This is called your "Spiritual Gift" and is only given to believers who choose to accept and open the gift of Jesus in their lives. You have a calling on your life and God has particular plans specifically prepared for you in advance to do. "..for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable."(Romans 11:29)  The unequivocal truth is this: you will only be fully satisfied in this life when you are fully executing your God given gift. I think this is also in part why this time of year can be so hard for some folks and depression hits an all time high during the holidays; their hearts are longing for significance and know they should have it, but they haven't opened their gift of Jesus to find it. Without him, the holiday is missing something quite substantial and ultimately this includes your personal reason for being here on Earth.
Spiritual gifts take many different forms but all are used for God's plans:
"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines." (1Corinthians 12) This passage tells us spiritual gifts include things like the gift of healing, prophecy, discernment, administration, encouragement, mercy, serving, and teaching.(Romans 12)  When you first discover what your gift is, it is like a tiny ember or spark inside of you. It has to be developed without fear into what God fully intended.
"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." (2nd Tim 1:5-7)
The number one song on the Billboard chart during this week before Christmas is "Firework" by Katy Perry. Of course I don't approve of how her video and its worldly message has warped what ultimately is one of God's wonderful truths; but this is fairly typical of Satan who has tried to defile the gift of Christmas since that first silent night in the manger. However, the message behind the song is what got me thinking about the flame inside of all of us and how it is tied to the best gift you ever got for Christmas. If you close your eyes, and listen to this song with the notion of your spiritual gift in mind, one could see why this song is so popular especially this time of year.
One part of the lyrics are this.."maybe your reason why all the doors are closed, so you can open one that leads you to the Perfect Road." "But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:14) Want to be fully satisfied and know that you are living out your specifically chosen purpose here on Earth? It's as simple as accepting a gift. You are a firework meant to shine in a very dark world. "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light." Ephesians 5:8 Merry Christmas and may your New Year shine brightly from within!
Katy Perry "Firework"

"The TALK"

Lately I have really been feeling the burden of attempting to raise two godly sons in today's world. I look around me and the statistics and behaviors I observe are discouraging. Recently I opened Yahoo to find that 4 in 10 people say that "the concept of marriage is obsolete"; 6% of families are live-in couples with children who opt never to get married and marriage itself has hit an all time low of 52% for people over 18 yo. Now add to that the responsibility of trying to teach children about sexual purity and waiting until marriage to have sex and one could see why Christian parents might feel like David attacking Goliath. But remember it only takes one well planted 'stone' of truth to tackle the Devil's schemes. I view my responsibility to educate my sons as both physical and spiritual and I'm going to make the case for both here. I'm hoping that by writing these words on paper (with the wonderful tool of backspace when needed) I'll have given some deliberate thought to the conversation that will ultimately take place. Yep, that's right...my boys have asked me to have "THE TALK." (Cricket, cricket.....)
My first comment to parents is this: do not rely on others to educate your children about sexual relations. I never got "the talk" with my parents and I wish that I had. It might have saved me a lot of heartache. Further, I don't believe that God holds us responsible for our childrens' decision making; everyone individually is accountable to God for that. However, he does hold you responsible for how well you equipped them to fight the battle. Focus on the Family can help with this. There are books that are geared to be age appropriate that will teach your children the logistics of sexual relations. The recommendation is that one gives them the book and leaves it in their room to read at their discretion; I did this and found them both reading the books alone. It is just as important to follow up on the introduction of such material and let them know you can answer questions. Next you have to provide the context for the logistics.  I realize this will sound really strange to a lot of folks (cue DC Talks' Jesus Freak) but I believe before you even have the 'talk' you have to frame their thinking at a very young age about relations. A few years ago I was introduced to the concept of "courtship dating" and it has framed discussions in our home. This paradigm subscribes to the notion that there is no need to date until one is ready to take a spouse and is at the stage of life to assume all the responsibilities that go with marriage. Frankly, dating is not a biblical concept and only presents opportunities for temptation. The fact that I even subscribe to such thinking now is a true testimony to what God has done in my life; when I was a teenager I thought I had to have a boyfriend and I made lots of stupid decisions that could have cost me my future. I thank God all the time that he protected me from myself and preserved his plan for my life; in fact I consider my parenting an act of God towards my boys and is an amazing part of my testimony considering the childhood that I had.
Here are the two major issues that I feel should be stressed in 'the talk':
1. God's rules are for us not against us. God is not the eternal 'party pooper'. He invented sex and he wants it to be enjoyed within the right context. God gives us rules to protect us. If you step outside of the boundaries provided by God's word, then you are not safe and provide easy access for the enemy to step in and try to de-rail God's plan for your life. I plan to use an analogy from LOST since my family are huge fans of the t.v. show. God set up the pilons (his commandments)  for our protection; his security system is the Holy Spirit who convicts us that sex before marriage is wrong. If you disable the security system and go outside of the pilons there is a large smoke monster waiting. It is not safe! Outside God's protection is heartache, disease, sin which causes guilt and ultimately separates us from God. God's word tells us there is no temptation that cannot be overcome and more importantly God will always provide a way out. This is the physical nature of the talk besides well...the logistics.
2. Your first love is very important. Marriage, and particularly the intimacy that involves sexual relations within the context of marriage, is designed to be a physical representation of  the union between Christ and the church. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery- but I am talking about Christ and the church." (Ephes 5:31-32) When you have sex with someone, in some part you become one with them. Something about sexual relations sticks to our being; "flee from sexual immorality, all other sins a person commits are outside the body but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body." (1st Corinth 6:18) Premarital sex is like duct tape; if you keep sticking it to something new over and over again it loses its stickiness. Therefore when the time comes for one to unite in marriage, the union isn't as God intended. Your first love is important, both physically and spiritually. The Church is the Bride of Christ and one day will be united with Jesus in the most intimate way when he returns. Our enemy is doing everything he can to attack this union and make it something that believers cannot relate to and therefore don't treat as important. If you don't see yourself as the Bride of Christ, then you won't act like one. Our enemy is attacking by attempting to:
1. Destroying the entire concept of marriage and what constitutes a family.
2. Defile the Bride of Christ with sexual sin among believers.
3. Derail the church with other loves so that our union with him will be 'less sticky' when he returns; these include things like prosperity gospel, not preaching about sin, eliminating the cross because it is offensive, or seeking to entertain rather than to worship.
I don't think it is a stretch to say that God puts emphasis on 'your first love'; in Revelation all the churches who are not found palatable to God "chose to forsake their first love" and adhered themselves to other truth before Jesus' return.This could be a whole other blog post...and probably will about what I am observing as churches attempt to straddle being in this world but not of it.
Well there it is...the talk in outline form. I feel like I'm about to give a briefing again in the Air Force. Only this one has eternal consequences. Wish me luck! And for all you Christian parents out there who struggle with the uncomfortable subject of sexuality in today's world, remember David. One stone... the tool in his hand that he was familiar with. When he slayed the giant that seemed impossible to tackle, just like when we raise up godly sons and daughters as a shining example.. then "we come against the enemy in the name of the Lord Almighty...and the whole world will know there is a God in Israel." 1st Samuel 17