Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us
from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never
changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give
birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his
prized possession. James 1:17-18
My youngest daughter is quite a challenge. Because of those challenges, my heart is a
bit burdened today. I worry about her. I
ask God if I have given her the right direction. She is not a wild child. But today, she seemed to weigh on me. When she wanders off the right path and makes
a mistake, you ask yourself if you could have done something differently or
pointed her in a direction that would have made everything alright. Was I too harsh? Will she make the right choices when she
grows up? Will she reach out to her
mother and me when she cannot pick up the pieces? It is difficult to know like God knows. When I said that to myself, I then realized
something. She is a gift.
Through all that she has put me through, the many years of
tireless arguments over the same things and pressing her repeatedly about what
she should do, I’m still thankful to have her as my child. She could have been any number of places. But God gave her to Loretta and me. Through all sixteen plus years, she has been
a gift to us. I am humbled and blessed
to have that opportunity to be her Dad, and I need to remember how God saw
me. I certainly was not His best child,
but He still loved on me, and He patiently waited to mold and grow me. And when I was distant from Him, He did not
leave me out in the wilderness. He
pursued me until I found my way back to His house. Despite all our daughter puts us through, we
always helped her find a way home. That
is what a good shepherd does with prized possessions.
We are all gifts to God.
When I say ‘gifts,’ I am not saying it in the sense we are to feel
entitled or privileged. Instead, it means
to be viewed as something valuable. If
we understand who God is, then we know anything that He values is ultimately
priceless, and above all things, we are those who He values most. Another way to look at God’s value of us is
to think of Jesus’s Parable of the Lost Sheep.
Listen how Jesus describes it:
If a man has a hundred sheep and
one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others
in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds
it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully
carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives,
he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me
because I have found my lost sheep.’
Luke 15:4-6
God does not have favorites or sees anyone either more or
less valuable. He sees all of us as His
prized possessions not wanting to lose even one of us. As such, all that we are and all we are given
are from Him. This is amazing to know
and more importantly, invaluable to remember particularly at this time of the
year.
Our greatest gift is the life God has given us. Whether it is a child, spouse, family, and
friend, all of it comes from Him, and no matter where you see yourself, take a
moment to see yourself as God sees you.
The reason Jesus called it The Greatest Commandment is that we are to
not only love God but to love our neighbors as … ourselves. Thus, if we do it right, we do not see others
as lesser nor greater. We see what God
sees: an abundance of gifts. Let us
celebrate this Christmas knowing the best gift was not gift wrapped. It was wrapped in swaddling clothes. Whose lives will you acknowledge as a gift to
you? How can you value your life as God
values it? My prayer is today we spend
time remembering we are God’s most prized possession. Amen, and Merry Christmas!