December 2008 The Gift of God

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." John 4:7-10

With Christmas approaching, gifts and gift-giving are on the brain, but I’ve been thinking of it from a little different perspective.

A friend was heading out on a challenging mission and asked Janet to pray for her as she walked out the door. Without giving it a lot of thought, but feeling the urging of the Holy Spirit, Janet called, “Would you like me to go with you?”

“No, no, that’s okay,” the friend said, and was gone. As the door closed behind her and Janet returned to the task at hand, a phrase popped into her head. “If you knew the gift of God…” Her friend was entering an emotionally-charged situation for which she had no first-hand experience; Janet, on the other hand, had faced it. The Lord had taken her through that particular valley and given her both grace and insight into a very difficult experience.

She had no human desire to be plunged into that arena again—there was nothing of herself that had offered to accompany her friend. That simple “Would you like me to go with you” was a gift from God, but her friend failed to recognize it as such.

How often do we also miss the gifts of God around us? There are the obvious, every day miracles we usually take for granted—life, breath, shelter, food, love—as well as those offered through others like Janet—gifts of experience, gifts of time shared, gifts of prayer, gifts of concern.

Jesus told the woman at the well that if she knew the gift of God and who it was who spoke to her, she would ask for, and receive, living water. The New International Version uses the phrase only eight times in the entire Bible, four of which deal with our relationship with God. In John and below, it refers to eternal life:

“The gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin… (it brought) justification (Romans 5:16).”
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).”
“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).”

The gift of God also refers to the abilities God gives believers to minister to the Church, our outreach to others: “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands (2 Timothy 1:6).”

The last way the phrase is used could be called inreach—a general happiness that God reaches in and brings to our lives every day:

“That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil; that is the gift of God (Ecclesiastes 3:13).”
“To accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is the gift of God (Ecclesiastes 5:19).”

It is this last usage that we find the most difficult to receive, because it is often wrapped so oddly, shaped so strangely. The everyday gifts of God do not sparkle with heaven’s promise of golden gates or jeweled crowns. They also do not require much on our part, the way the spiritual gifts do which he bestows on us.

What they do require is that we have eyes to see them, that we recognize the gift of God when it says hello at the other end of a telephone conversation, when it offers assistance we hadn’t wanted to admit we needed, when it opens the door for us when our arms are full, when it smiles at us across the room from a stranger’s face.

If you knew the gift of God…

Father, help us to recognize your awesome gifts around us in all their many forms. Let us truly be content with our lives and find joy in our work. We rejoice in the promise of eternal life with you—may it begin not on the day of death, but today, as we walk in the fullness of your Holy Spirit each moment. Amen.