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December 2015 • SR
Chasing the gifts… turning away from the Giver.
Don’t lust after the land of the people of Canaan…I have already
promised to give it to you! Don’t covet the lifestyle of the
pagans…what I am giving you is so much better. True life! Don’t
set your heart after the gods of others, thinking they can get
you more of what you want! Don’t chase after things and
women, lusts of the flesh and pleasures of the body. I want to
give you so much, if only you would ask. If only you would
seek.
I am giving you the Kingdom. I have laid out the path of
Righteousness. I want to give you all the blessings of the
Cosmos…
but you are scrabbling over the baubles; you are
wrestling over wrapping paper; you are killing one another,
coveting and envying over wealth and relationships. You do not
have because you do not ask God. And when you ask, you ask
like He is a vending machine instead of a wise Father who
knows best.
Father Christmas
Christmas is coming up, and Anna and I are deciding what the
“good” things we want to give our kids are. They have written
out a list, all the things that they want. And we want that look
of joy on their face…we don’t want to disappoint our children
because we love them.
But we also know there are a whole host of other factors we are
considering. What is going to be good for them? There are things
on their list that will be actively harmful to them. There are
things not on their list that will bring them more joy. And best,
there are things, not on their list, that are going to bring us
closer together — things we get to do together and enjoy
together. But in that process, think of all the limitations we have.
We do not know everything that they will need or even like. We
make partial guesses as to what will be best for them. And most
of all, we have limited resources with which to give to them.
God has no limita ons as Giver.
He, as the Father, carefully
considers what gifts to give His beloved children. There is no
financial cap. There is no external limit. Just dwell on that for a
moment. We couple infinite potential with infinite love.
That is
our Giver
. That is our Father.
If we don’t have something, it is because we haven’t asked, or
the time is not right, or it wouldn’t be good for us. So we wait.
Sometimes we realize why it wasn’t good for us. Sometimes we
just trust in our perfect, loving, heavenly Father who desires to
give good things to His children.
Christmas Envy
How silly of us to look at the possessions and life and gifts and
talents of one another, and say “I want that.” How silly of us. It
is like Logan looking over at Arabelle’s doll house in envy…
because it is bigger than the gift he hasn’t unwrapped yet.
The gifts God is giving you are absolutely perfect for you. For
your pleasure, for the shaping of your soul, perfect for your
relationship with God. Perfect.
We covet because we think small.
Love of God, Love of Neighbor
This command is so focused at our heart…and it is so powerful
in its application.
The Ten Commandments lay out the Course of Righteousness…
and they are summed up by this: Love God, Love your Neighbor.
What is missing in our relationship with God that we long to
possess what someone else possesses? That we envy, that we
covet?
We don’t trust the Giver.
Trust the Giver.
If we understand that an infinite wise intelligence, possessed of
infinite creative resources, who knows the desires of our hearts
and hears our requests, loves us and desires only good things
for us — if we embraced that…envy disappears, covetousness
disappears, all of that simply evaporates.
Oh, I don’t have that. I might wonder why; I might be curious;
but I can absolutely know that the only reason I don’t have his
ox, his donkey, his car, his house and his wife…is that they
wouldn’t be good for me. And what a symptom of love for one
another: when we can be truly happy for another’s blessing
without desiring that for ourselves.
I don’t envy my kids. I’ll occasionally snake a bite of their
dessert…but only for the laughs. I want them to have good
things, to enjoy dessert, to get presents at Christmas, to be
ridiculously successful in all avenues of life. I want that for
them — and I’ll do anything I can to help them get there.
And obviously I don’t complain, I don’t envy when I get good
gifts. I am glad for me. Good for me, I say, to myself. I am glad I
got that blessing or gift, well done!
Love your neighbor as yourself, with that same simple joy.
How do we get there? Get to know the Giver. Test Him out. Ask
Him, and see if He gives good gifts.
Not the gifts but the Give
r. Then also the gifts of the Giver.
Don’t look over at your neighbor and say “I want that.”
But you can look at what God has given you and say “I want
this, thank you.” You discover the good things God wants to
give you and say, “I want that” — and our loving heavenly
Father may just be waiting for you to ask! Crazy but true.
And best of all, you can look to the person behind all the gifts,
the Giver, and say
“I want You.”
Philippians 3:8
8
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing
worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suf-
fered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order
that I may gain Christ.
Top Ten Words
Continued from previous page..
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SR
