The Joy of Giving

I am beginning to collect many paintings in my art studio. They line the walls, chairs, and floor. I am running out of space. I love to look at all the bright color and art before me as I paint another new painting, but I have discovered as of late an even greater enjoyment, and that is in giving my art away as gifts. Nothing pleases me more than to see someone blessed by my creativity in such a way that it brings them joy and happiness. It is even more fun to invite them into my art studio and let them scout the many paintings all over the walls, shelves, chairs and floor and chose one. I am so delighted to see which painting they will chose and wonder why they chose that particular one. It gives me great pleasure to think that they would enjoy my art and appreciate a gift that I could give them. Truly there is joy in giving. As I was out on my walk the other day and pondering this truth, a spiritual analogy came to my mind as I was thinking about the most gracious giver in all the world and the most priceless gift ever given. I am talking about the Lord, our God and Creator. There is only one God and His name is Jesus Christ. The Father gave us the greatest gift in the world when He gave us His Son. The Son gave us His very life, His body broken for us, His blood shed for us , that we through faith in Him might be saved. Jesus is precious! There is truly no greater gift in the world and no greater giver! For He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He gave us His perfect righteous life, a sinless life that only He could live. He offered it up, and gave it to us, to become our imputed righteousness. He shed His precious blood on our behalf and washed away our sins with it as He took our punishment on the cross, the death we deserved, He experienced, so that we could be forgiven and live life eternally in heaven with Him. Such a love gift will never be matched in all of history. Our Creator God loved us so much. As I mused on such amazing love the thought dawned on me, I wonder how much joy the Lord Jesus Christ receives when someone accepts His love gift? Oh it must be immeasurable! He paid the ultimate price, what delight and jubilation He must experience when His creatures believe on Him, receive from Him and are blessed by Him with eternal life! For when they receive this gift, they become His children, sealed forever in the kingdom of God. They are His, for He gives Himself to them completely and will never leave them nor forsake them. What could ever cast a shadow on such kindness, such generosity? The freedom with which such goodness is bestowed should be so easily obtained by all. For He certainly intended for all to have it.Yet the Bible reveals a shocking truth when the disciples ask Jesus if few be saved and He answers, “strive to enter in at the straight gate for many will seek to enter but will not be able. Many are called, but few are chosen, and He goes on to warn us that broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in thereat, but narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. Why do only few find it? Could the sad but simple truth be that they simply don’t believe the freeness with which salvation is offered and rather try to pay for it with their own good works, social gospel, or belief, not in Christ but their own human goodness? Sadly I do believe this is a reason that so many miss the straight gate of salvation. They fail to see the sincerity in our Lord as He offers them a “gift” that only He could have paid for. They seek to pay for it themselves in false gospels like Lordship salvation, where a christian must make Jesus “Lord” of their life and keep all the commandments in the Bible in order to earn and keep their salvation. Or the belief of calvinism where a christian is taught that he was chosen by God over others and elected as it were so that now he must spend the rest of his life proving that he is truly worthy to be elected and saved by his good works and perseverence to the end. Or the false gospel of Arminianism where a christian must keep himself saved and keep Christ’s commands in order to avoid “loosing” his salvation. These false versions of the true gospel of free grace are a profound insult to a Holy God who did everything divinely possible to save us and accomplished our salvation single handedly by His own power. What a disgrace to imagine that we could offer to pay for or even contribute the smallest mite so as to add to so extravagant an offering. Though the similarities are few, I imagine offering someone a gift of one of my paintings and instead of graciously accepting my gift, they refuse and merely find a picture somewhere else that is like the one I made or try to paint one themselves that is more preferable to them than the one I offered. It is certainly not that my paintings are so special, but rather the insult comes in robbing that one of the joy of giving and not allowing them the blessing of being able to bestow this kindness. This is what we do to God when we refuse to believe in His goodness, that He should be sincere in His offer of eternal life free, to all who believe! When we try to pay for our salvation we rob God of all His joy and all His glory, but we also rob ourselves of the very gift of salvation itself. For it can only be received on the terms in which it was offered, a free gift, paid for and nonnegotiable. Salvation is of the Lord! We cannot merit it, nor can we add one iota to it. It is a gift. Gifts are free, though this gift cost the giver everything.