Gift Giving  

 

While reading one of my wife's magazines I came across an article about a company that makes money from selling advice to gift givers. Sounds like a great racket if you can make it work. Their number one recommendation however was super. They reported that the biggest mistake people make in gift giving is to give gifts that they would like to receive rather than taking the time to find out what the recipient would want.

 

If you have already bought your wife a 4X4 truck or a supercomputer, or your if you bought your husband a set of china, perhaps its to late to do anything this year. The real key to gift giving is to care about others and think of what they care about.  It takes work, but that work is the labor of love that can make a gift special.

 

On a spiritual note, I suspect that many times what we often give to God exactly what we want, or at least we give him what we want to give him rather than what He wants. Often I hear people talking about God in the terms of "Well I feel God...." or "Well I think God...." rather than to ask what the bible says. I know not everyone believes in the bible, but one thing we must all face is that it doesn't matter what we think or feel about God.  He is or He isn't, and if He is, we need to find out what the rules are.   Jesus said "seek and you will find."

 

Mark 7:11-13   But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." (NIV)

 

Matt 23:23-25   "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-- mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. (NIV)