Gloryteller

At Christmastime when I was a boy, my dad understood the relative poverty of his children, so he would give us each a small amount of money to be spent on gifts for the other family members. That was after Mom had  bought all the presents for each of us, spending, most likely, “too much” money already. What was a small amount to him was a small fortune to us, as we received no “allowances”, so we each felt rich as we happily shopped with Mom and picked out trinkets and treasures for our siblings and parents.
Wrapping the gifts was fun, but the best part was the excited anticipation we had for Christmas morning when the family would partake in what we children had built in our minds to be the Olympics of giving and receiving. It was as good as it gets, and after all the unwrapping, and showing, and laughing, and modeling, and playing, and cheering, and thanking, we all felt richer and more blessed than we were before. But it was Dad and Mom, I think, who felt the most blessed, for having given to us so that we could bless each other with gifts. The money they gave us came back to them, multiplied, in seeing generosity, unselfishness, and brotherly love instilled into us and put into action.
And so it is with God. He began giving early. In fact, long before mankind was even here to receive it, He gave us light! He gave us water and land – a nice place to live. In the water and on the land, He provided good things for us to eat – a perfect garden containing everything we would need. And if that were not enough, He gave us His love. He gave us His Spirit presence. All He asked was that we love Him from our hearts, and display a small amount of obedience. Mankind had a hard time with that, so later, He gave us a baby – His physical presence – our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus. In that tiny presence was contained an unfathomable amount of love and light!

We celebrate His birth extravagantly on a day we name Christmas.
because
He is our everything!
He provides all we need!
He left His abundance and took on our poverty
in order to bless us with abundant life! 
He gives lavishly out of His abundance,
into our poverty, that we may graciously bless others.

Whether the gift of writing, of singing, of making music, of delivering a message, of healing, of encouraging, of hospitality, of giving time or treasures, of working or helping, of giving testimony, of sowing evangelistic seeds, of doing a kindness, of giving a hug, or a simple smile, you do have one gift – or more – that you can share with others who might be destitute until they receive your unique offering.

Remember:
God gives to us out of His riches,
The gifts we receive are to bless others,
When we thus bless others, we gift back to Him
A richly amplified Love Offering,
Which is one of the greatest Christmas gifts
The Father could unwrap.

All these good things were, and are, from God.
Shouldn’t we make sure our gratitude gets back to Him
through the proper channels?
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