Daily Bread

The Best Gift is Free

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Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7 ESV

It is not long until Christmas and some might be thinking about what kind of gifts to give. For the people closest to us we often focus on something personal. For those whom we do not know so well we may stockpile a few generic gifts. But what kind of gift do you suppose God would choose to give?

Well the Bible tells us that He gave us life and breath. The Apostle John goes further and says that God gave His only Son that if we believe in Him we could receive eternal life.  But if we look a little closer we see that when Jesus came, He didn’t just stick around long enough to do miracles and then return to heaven waiting to see if we would believe. He came with one very specific job to do. He came to give His life as a sacrifice for our sins.

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The difference between the Christian and the non believer is not whether we grew up in the right family, are members of the right church, or even give a lot of money to the poor. Our one essential characteristic is that we have come, one by one to the foot of the cross and received the gift of mercy that Jesus came to give. Now He asks us: “Will we be willing to give away the greatest gift that we have ever received?” Why can’t we give mercy to others this Christmas? And why not give it to more than just our loved ones and friends? Why not give it to neighbors, strangers and even enemies? Mercy is the greatest gift we could ever receive or give and best of all it is always free!

 

Making the Christmas Candy

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This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.                      John 15:12 ESV

Every year as we approach Thanksgiving my wife begins preparing to make her Christmas candy. Of course preparing doesn’t begin with cooking it means buying almonds, chocolate, butter and pounds and pounds of sugar. It has become a family tradition for forty five years and it makes me wonder if anyone can or will carry it on after she is gone. Of course she has written down her recipes and even given them to several others in the family. But no one yet has made even a single batch of fudge or turned out a sheet of almond butter crunch.

Nancy’s Christmas candy gets shipped to six states and is shared with a crowd as diverse as the lawn man, the guy who picks up our garbage as well as the pastor of our church. It has become her annual reminder that God loved them so much that He sent Jesus and if they will receive nothing more of her message they can still delight in the sweetness of her gifts. When Jesus said for us to love one another as He loved us; He didn’t mean for us to all do it the same way. Nancy’s way has eclipsed the careers of politicians, movie stars and famous athletes. Few will remember the winners of super bowls, elections or academy awards; but the taste of Nancy’s Christmas candy remains as an eternal reminder of God’s love in a special way.

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Maybe our prayer this morning could be, “God what is the recipe for the way you want me to share your love today?” Loving in God’s way always means to do it like Jesus did; but it also means to cook with the unique ingredients that He has put in the pantry of our heart to use.

 

This Little Salt of Mine

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You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. Matthew 5:14 ESV

Being the salt of the earth gets a lot less attention than being the light of the world. After all when was the last time you heard anyone singing, “This little salt of mine!”? When people think about the salt of the earth they vaguely picture plain and ordinary folks. On the other hand, when my mother used to say that sailors were using “salty language”; she meant something quite different. Then what exactly is there about salt that Jesus is urging us to understand?

It may help to remember that salt comes up from mines deep in the earth. Its uniqueness is that it is totally different from the soil around it. In the same way, when we became Christians God dug us up by His grace and brought to the surface for a special purpose. His grace has transformed us and so He asks us to let that grace flow through us to transform our own little part of the world. Every day He gives us the opportunity to demonstrate the difference that grace has made in our lives; not to try to fit in and become like everyone else. When Jesus prayed that we would be in the world, but not of it He was asking that His grace would flavor everything and everyone around us. We are on earth for such a short time, so why don’t we start singing, “This little salt of mine; I’m going to shake it out!”

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