Birthday Surprise

I did not get a chance to write yesterday as I was hoping to be able to do.  My wife surprised me with a wonderful birthday present.  She had arranged for us to go to a bed and breakfast and have dinner out.  My in-laws arrived on Wednesday night, supposedly just to surprise me for my birthday.  Truth be told, they were here to watch the children for us while we left the next day to go to our special retreat!  WOW, she had me good on this one!

As I sit here now, in the quiet morning while my wife and infant son still sleep and look around at the beautiful room I sit in, I am reminded how blessed I am to have been given the gift of such a wonderful wife.  Not BECAUSE of what she has done for me but because what she has done for me REVEALS her heart and character.  I celebrate now, not because she gave me this incredible gift and did this incredible thing for me, but because of what that gift reveals about her character and her heart.

What a great picture and a great reminder of our relationship with God.  Our love for and devotion to God should not be based primarily on the things that we receive from Him.  This would make our love and devotion conditional on Him continuing to give those things to us.  Rather, we need to be reminded to see those gifts that He gives us as an outward expression of His unchanging character and nature.  God will always continue to give because He is God and it delights Him to do so.  However, we ought not to base our love for Him on whether or not we continue to get good things from Him.  When we base our love and devotion to HIm on those things, we will face great problems when difficult times come.  When we begin to face trials, tribulations, persecutions and the like, we will turn away from God if our only reason for following Him is the good things He gives.  

No, beloved, let us see beyond the gifts to the character, nature, and heart of the Giver.  Jesus death on the cross was the greatest gift because it gives us salvation from sin and death.  But look at the heart of the Giver.  This gift reveals God's perfect holiness and righteousness.  It reveals His anger toward sin and His love of righteousness.  It reveals that He is a just God, bringing down due punishment for sin.  It shows His love for mankind in that He knew we could never pay the debt we owed to Him and so He provided a way for the payment to be made in order that we would be saved from sin and death.  It shows His great mercy and grace.  His shows HIs great compassion and love.  It shows His great power and ability.  

The gift reveals the heart of the Giver.  The gift reveals the character and nature of the Giver.  Let us look beyond the gifts, beyond the lavish blessings and love the Giver, not the simply the gift.