FCS Blog

Gifts of Christmas Blog

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” That is the chorus of a popular
Christmas song this time of year. For many people, this is their favorite time of
the year. There are so many things to like about Christmas. There are the lights,
the food, the time with family and friends, and gifts all around. For some people,
gifts are their love language. For others, finding the right gift is their nemesis.
I’m not great at giving gifts. For our Secret Pal at school, I have Cindy Feagin
help me, as in she does everything and I get credit for it. I do get a few gifts on

my own, but they are usually fairly lame.

My daughter Jodi, on the other hand, is a great gift giver. She knows the people
that she is buying for and keeps an eye out for the perfect gift starting December
26. She has a gift for all occasions and keeps a stash of gifts just in case she gets
caught by surprise. Even her gift stash is good stuff. She is one of the most
creative and giving people I know. I am sure that she did not get that from me.
I do know someone else who is really good at giving gifts. God is a great gift
giver. 1 Corinthians 12 lists several gifts that God has for us: healing, miracles,
prophesy, among others. Romans 12 lists others such as teaching,
administration, service, exhortation, and generosity. In Ephesians 4, He gave the
ability to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. These are just
some of the gifts that God has given to his followers to build His kingdom. He
gives just the right gift to just the right person to accomplish His purposes.
We can accept these gifts or not. It is easy to be excited about the gift that you
asked for and received. But maybe you received a pair of socks from your
grandma. You can either be excited about the gift or grumble about the socks.
You can look at the socks as not as important as the other gifts. You can feel that
there was not much thought to the gift. That shiny gift may not last long, but the
socks will be with you for quite awhile. You will remember your grandma every
time you put those socks on. The other gift will often be forgotten before too

long.

God’s gifts may not always be the ones we would like. Maybe you want the gift of
teaching, but you have been given the gift of encouragement. You can tell God
that you are going to use the gift of teaching even though that is not the gift He
has given you. You will labor and labor and may even get pretty good at
teaching, but if that is not your gifting, you will not be as blessed as if you would
have worked in your gifting. If you do not use the gifts God has given you to
achieve the purposes He has for you, you miss out on the blessings that He has
for you. He will achieve His purposes through you (best case scenario) or through
someone else (not so good). Ask God to show you what gifts he has given you

and do your best to use these gifts for His glory.
Have a wonderful Christmas season!

God Bless,
David