General News
16 February, 2025
Physical gifts just a fleeting joy
Have you ever noticed how quickly we seem to tire of Christmas gifts?
Here we are, at the beginning of February, and I imagine many of us have already found our Christmas presents have become a bit dull.
But there is one Christmas gift that does not fade, one in which our joy is not short-lived: the gift of the Christ-child.
God has given us the gift of salvation in His only Son, Jesus Christ – and it is a gift, given without any worthiness on our part.
But God has given us other gifts too – very important gifts, to be used and cultivated and treasured.
Faith in Christ is personal, but the other gifts of God are to be used not just for ourselves but for the benefit of others and in service to God Himself.
Ask yourselves, what gifts has God given you?
Don’t allow them to go unused.
You might think of your daily occupation.
This is a gift, for the service of your family and friends and for God.
But God has given you other gifts too – wisdom, insight, discernment, knowledge and more.
These personal characteristics are also gifts from God, given so we can serve Him and each other.
Don’t sell yourselves short.
All people have God’s gifts like these.
But we don’t all have the same gifts.
I have some but I don’t have others.
Perhaps you have some of the gifts I do not.
That’s not a problem.
God has made us all different; that’s obvious by simply looking around.
But simply because our gifts are all different, God has equipped us as a community to serve Him and each other completely.
And among these gifts, not one is greater than any other.
For example, you may hear it said that one must perform miracles or speak in tongues in order to be a Christian, but it is not so.
We are here to serve God and each other, not to draw distinctions based on who has what gifts.
The gifts of God, whatever they may be, are all for the common good of God’s people – not one is before or after the rest.
Whatever your gifts may be, use them to God’s glory.
God gives these gifts as He determines; there is no set pattern or rhyme or reason as to how God distributes them.
We only know what He has revealed to us in Scripture, and He tells us that His purpose is His eternal glory and to rescue many from death and to bring them to the knowledge of the truth in Christ.
We are blessed by almighty God with every blessing.
May the Holy Spirit fill your hearts and mine with a burning desire to serve God by serving His church and others.
- with Lucas Matuschka