|
The Selfish Gift
Dec. 2006 You may wonder how a gift can be selfish but as I pondered Pastor Leland's recent message on Cain and Able's offerings I understood how that
can be true. Cain gave the Lord the gift that he wanted to give Him. Not a gift the Lord wanted. Christmas season is coming up, with all the decorations, gifts and trappings we commonly associate with the holidays.
Will our Christmas gift list look like Cain's? Will it be what we want to give, not what the receiver really wants to receive? Giving what the person really wants takes time, takes personal involvement – getting to know
the person and what they like, want and need as well. Cain didn't bother to really get to know God, to know He meant He wanted what He said. It also takes giving up what we want to give them. Cain didn't love God enough
to give up the gift he wanted to give God. The gift really wasn't a gift to God for God. It was a gift to God for Cain. It was still all about Cain and what he wanted – even though it was in the form of gift giving.
Love is a gift we give, hopefully all the time, not just on holidays. Can we love the way the receiver wants and needs to be loved or do we insist on loving them the way we want to love them? If we do, then is it true
love? Can we love people enough to tell them what we want and need to feel loved? God loved Cain and Able (and us) enough to tell us what He wanted from us, what makes Him feel loved. Can we trust our loved ones enough
to be that open and honest? If not, then is it true love? Can we love enough to spend the time to find out how to love as the receiver wants and needs to be loved or do we hold tight to how we want to love them?
"Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13, The Message |
