Gifts from Daddy

                       A little food for weekend thought--

      "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:17)
       From C.S. Lewis: "Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God.  If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already.  So that when we talk of a man doing anything for God, I will tell you what it is really like.  It is like a small child going to its father and saying, 'Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.'  Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child's present.  It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction.
      What God cares about is not exactly our actions. What He cares about is that we should be creatures of a certain kind or quality--the kind of creatures related to Himself in a certain way.  I do not add 'and related to one another in a certain way,' because that is included: if you are right with Him, you will inevitably be right with your fellow-creatures, just as if all the spokes of a wheel are fitted rightly into the hub and the rim they are bound to be in the right positions to one another."

      I well remember when our youngest child would ask us if he could "buy" us all Christmas presents from the pro shop at the golf course where our boys play golf.  "Of course," we'd exclaim. "That would be wonderful!"
     He'd excitedly pick out presents for every person in the family, have them wrapped, and proudly present them to each recipient on Christmas morning.  A golf hat for one brother.  Golf balls for another.  Tee shirts for his sisters.  Mugs for his mom and dad.
     All paid for by you-know-who...though that never occurred to Peter.   He assumed that since he did all the work, he surely deserved all the credit.  And no one was more thrilled to hand out his carefully chosen gifts Christmas morning than our youngest son.  We loved him for it.
      So Lewis' words resonated when I read them.  What a reminder that all we have, all we do, all we think, all we are is solely and completely due to the grace and goodness of God!  Yet we're so prone to think of everything as "ours" or "mine."  Seriously?
      For instance, we get frustrated when some interruption wastes "my" or "our" valuable time.  Really?  Who made time?  Who controls time? And Who determines the hours and days we each will have on this earth?
      It's not "my time"--it's God's...and if it's His, then He has the sovereign right to use or interrupt or end the time He's given me in any way He chooses.
      Nor is it "my family."  Nope--He blessed me with husband, children, siblings, parents.  I certainly didn't deserve or earn any of them.  All gracious gifts.  All unique treasures from His sovereign hand, loaned to me for these few short years on planet earth.  Oh might I love and serve them well.
      Same with "my" friends...they're really "His" friends that the Lord allows me to encourage, love and enjoy by His grace, for His glory.  More good and perfect gifts from my Daddy.  Oh Father, give us more love, more grace so that we might more fully and freely love Your children.
      And it's not "my church," "my house," "my clothes," "my car," or even "my dog."
      All His.  All His.  All His.
      All to be received with gratitude and held with open hands and contented hearts.  Thankful for what He chooses to give...and what He chooses to withhold.  But always with our eyes fixed on the Designer, Creator, Giver, and Sustainer.  
       He--only He--is the One to be worshipped.  And when our relationship is right with Him--when the Lord Jesus is at the center, when He is the hub--then all the other relationships will be right as well.
      Thank You, Father, for every good and perfect gift You have sovereignly chosen to give us...and for those which in Your infinite love and wisdom, You have chosen to withhold as well.  Keep us focused upon You, treasuring You, so that You remain the first and greatest love in our lives.  For if we love You well, You'll enable us to love others well.
      Thank You, Abba, Father.  It's all by You, through You, from You, and for You.
      To God--our Daddy, the relentless Gift-Giver--be all the glory.