The Forgotten Gift

Have you ever received a Christmas gift or perhaps a birthday gift that you didn’t want however acted excited and said thank you?  What happened with that gift?  If you were provided with a gift receipt perhaps you exchanged it, or maybe you regifted it, or is that gift sitting in the back of your closet collecting dust, unused.  You never saw the value in the gift that you were given.

Have you ever received a gift that you really, really, really wanted and couldn’t believe it when you were given the gift?  Your excitement could not be contained.  The excitement showed on your face everywhere you went.  Little by little the excitement started to dwindle that you didn’t even notice, until one day you find that gift sitting in the back of your closet collecting dust.

Sometimes we can miss the importance of things whether it is because of the value we place on them or the understanding of them.  God offers the free gift of salvation to all.  Some do not know the true impact of this gift and either ignore it or accept it, but with false thankfulness.  Others may accept this gift with excitement to only forgot the importance of it and leave it on the shelf for a rainy day or when they have time.

The true heart posture of receiving the gift of salvation needs to be genuine and authentic - full of repentance, thankfulness and acceptance.  Life can be busy and chaotic.  Life can be full of plans that do not plan out no, matter how much time goes into them.  The only thing that remains the same is God’s gift of salvation.  It is your response that makes the difference on what kind of life you will live here and in the eternal.  The choice is yours – which will you choose?

If you received the gift of salvation genuinely and authentically, thankfulness the question is what are you going to do with it – more specifically how are you going to let the gift of salvation impact and change your life?

If you received the gift of salvation with excitement however have forgotten the importance of it, I encourage you to find that original excitement and lean into it.  Find out what is keeping you from committing and really receiving this gift for what it truly is.

If you were provided the gift of salvation and did not authentically receive this gift because you did not understand or ignored it, I encourage you to ask yourself what are you afraid of?  This gift is the one and only gift that can change your life in unimaginable ways.  I don’t mean to say that there is anything magical about the gift of salivation.  In fact, there is nothing magical about the gift of salvation or Jesus at all.  The definition of magic is, ‘the power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces”.  Magic can also be explained as “sleight of hand” that creates illusions.  Jesus does not offer the gift of salvation to create illusions.  The world we see around us is full of illusions.  The life Jesus offers through salvation is one in which the veil is removed, and the illusions of this world can be seen with the naked eye; from the help of the holy spirit that comes upon you once you have received the free gift of salvation.  In Ephesians 2:8-9 we find the following, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it (NLT)”.

How have you let the free gift of salvation shape who you are?