Do We Take Credit For The Christmas Presents We Get?

Posted by Rob Kischuk on Dec 23, 2010 in Daily Bread | 2 comments

It’s the time of year where TV commercials shift to showing a husband surprising his wife (or vice versa) with a brand new Lexus sitting in the driveway, with a bow on top. The spouse is always smiling. Call me weird, but if Cheryl went out and spent $35,000+ on a car without telling me, I’m not so sure I’d be smiling. Even though it’s a loving and generous gesture, it’s an odd way to run the family budget.

Suppose instead that in a couple of days, on Christmas, I found a shiny new Lexus sitting in my driveway, with a note indicating that it was from someone I didn’t know. How would I react? I think I’d be pretty excited. When I saw my friends, I think I’d tell them how amazing it was that someone was generous enough to give me a brand new car, even though I hadn’t done a single thing for them. If someone complimented me on how great my new car looked, I think I’d excitedly tell them about the person who gave it to me out of their own generosity. When I was driving the car, I think I’d often think about the person who gave it too me, wanting to know more about them and why they gave it to me. It would be difficult for me to claim that I had somehow earned that car through my own merit. It would be weird if we told people that we received wonderful Christmas presents as a reflection of how wonderful we are.

God has given us a much greater gift than any car, or anything else in this world. He has offered us the gift of spending eternity with Him, if we accept it. He has given us abilities and resources. He has given us His Holy Spirit to dwell in us, living our lives through Him. How do we respond when someone compliments us on a gift God has given us? Do we respond giving by God the credit for these gifts like we would gush about our Lexus benefactor? Paul observed, “I know that nothing good lives in me”. Our salvation cannot be a result of anything we have done. And if someone pays us a compliment, consider how we can point that compliment right back to God, who is the source of everything good in us?