As I sat this morning playing a game on Facebook, it said that I had received a free gift. When I clicked on the link to redeem my gift, it promptly told me, “Sorry, your gift has already been redeemed.” Of course at first I sat and wondered, why is it that they continually repeat, “you have received a gift” if in fact it is already been redeemed. You would think that, in this time and day, that the computer would be smart enough not to keep telling me I received a gift when I’ve already clicked on that link. Then I thought about Christmas being yesterday and that everybody probably has opened most their gifts by now. As a parent, there were times when I spent so much time and effort thinking about what to get someone, purchasing that item, and wrapping that item with great expectation of the coming excitement, for it to be less wondrous than my anticipation. And I looked back and I wondered about some of the gifts that I had given and what it meant to me to give them. I know there have been gifts that I have given that meant far more to me than what they meant to the one that received them. Then I started to think, what was my greatest gift I gave to someone? I thought about the one that I spend the most money on; I thought about another that I spent the most time on. I thought about the one that was the funniest, held the most meaning, or was just the most unexpected gift to the most un-expecting receiver. Along my journey of thinking about these things, I thought about what was the greatest gift that I received. I received a handful of gifts this year. All of them had special meaning, because all the givers mean something special to me.

Then my train of conversation, with myself, was quickly interrupted with this question. “Lauree, what was the greatest gift that you received?”

Well, Good morning God!

I went to my Bible and looked; seeking to find the one gift that God had given me that would be the greatest of all. John 3: 16 “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” NIV. Hallelujah! What a gift to receive! From that one gift, I have received mercy, grace, forgiveness and eternal life. Romans 10:9 “… That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved”. And in verse 12 “for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him”. And in verse 13 “for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”.

When God gave us his greatest gift, he changed our lives forever. With Jesus’ blood, God purchased believers from the slavery of sin. We all know that all of us are sinners whether you believe in God or not. But for those that believe in Jesus what we received was a forgiveness of those sins. By quickly acknowledging and asking for forgiveness, we no longer have to bear the shame/bondage of our sins. Many people spend every day of their life bearing shame, feeling guilty, and rehashing every single thing they have ever done wrong. This way of living life prevents them from ever becoming fully what God intended them to be. My greatest gift was from God. By giving this world his only son, not intervening in his crucifixion, and raising him again, I received mercy, grace, forgiveness and eternal life. I know I am not to dwell on all my imperfections, my wrong doings or my sins. When the devil steps in and tries to tell me otherwise, I know God says differently. I know that if I allow God to work in my life, guide my footsteps, and allow him to work through me to bless others; I will become what God has intended for me. Ephesians 2:4 – 7 “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Jesus Christ”. And like playing the game this morning, my gift has been redeemed, but there is no sorry first. In the game I could play no longer, but with the gift I received from God I can continue. My “game” plays on. I don’t have to wait for tomorrow, wait for somebody else to gift me, or purchase more credits, for God through Jesus Christ gave me the gift to keep going forward.

God made you, He knows you, and most of all He loves you. There is no hole so deep that the hand of God cannot reach. He knows you are not perfect for all have sinned. Jesus’s own earthly family was muddled with many shady characters. God used the most unlikely people to do his work, even a dead man. You are precious in his sight. And yes He can even use you.

Lauree