The numbers are in. Apparently,  Valentine’s Day is big business. Soon men will frantically invade floral shops and grocery stores to scoop up roses that have been drastically marked up. Most men will not even think of doing this until they are on their way home from work next Tuesday. Some will do it out of love while others will do it out of necessity (16% of men buy flowers to “stay out of the doghouse”). We love giving gifts to the one we love, but the best gift we can give doesn’t wither in a weekend.

It’s time to shower the one you love with a memorable gift, so where do you go for advice? You could go to a Casanova, or you could go to the Creator. He does know a thing or two about love. Long before Tim Tebow wrote it under his eyes, John wrote it in his gospel. “For God so loved the world that he gave…” God loved. God gave. God was the first giver of gifts. Hallmark just stole the idea, abbreviated the message, and sold the cards.

God’s love wasn’t best seen in a greeting card, but in Christ. His love was sacrificial, but it wasn’t centered on us. God’s love for us was God centered. “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ…to the praise of his glorious grace…” (Eph 1:5, 6) God loved us and gave his Son for us, but the primary reason he gave the gift of his Son was so that he would be seen as great. When we show love to another it is an attempt to demonstrate how valuable they are to us. “I love you so much I’m willing to give you this valuable gift!” When God shows love it is to demonstrate how valuable he is. This does not mean God does not love us. His love for us is seen all over the pages of Scripture. But we are not the center of God’s universe, God is.

Knowing that God loves us in such a way that God is praised should not diminish our joy, it should increase our joy. For us to give a gift so that we would be praised is pride. For God it is loving. It is loving because the only place we find true satisfaction and lasting joy in life is in him.

The gifts we give this week, regardless of their carats, will lose their sparkle. They always do. If you want to give the one you love a gift that will last forever don’t just go out of your way to tell them they are beautiful, but go out of your way to show them the beauty of Christ. Treasure the one you love by treasuring the One who loved them first. True love points be to a gift that satisfies-the all satisfying One.

RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life

THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs

THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment

THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure

THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other

THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God

THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

Fret not, you’re in good company. Paul missed the mark on a few of his spiritual resolutions. In Romans 7 he wrote, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Can I get a witness? Ever been there before? Even our best intentions can end in bitter failure. Paul isn’t talking about his new exercise program, he’s discussing his spiritual life. He paints a bleak picture.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:15-24 ESV)

Something tells me Tony Robbins is not asking Paul to teach him how to unleash the power within or how to create his own breakthrough. Paul’s message is sober-even a tad bit depressing. It makes me want to find a corner and grab a box of Hostess Ding Dongs. While his message may be sober, it’s not without hope.

“Who will deliver me from this body of death?” He writes, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus came to do something we couldn’t. He was the faithful one.

Resolutions are good. It’s wise to plan. Life change is possible. You’re not a slave to old habits, despite the fact they die hard. But remember when you fail that Jesus came to save you from your sin and failure. He came because given all the time in the world we would not clean ourselves up enough to be good enough. He came so we don’t have to be. This is very good news. Thanks be to God through Christ!  

by James Metsger

Melissa’s grandma always said, “Today isn’t about the presents, it’s about his presence.” I always thought that was a bit cheesy- or a lot cheesy. It may still be but I have to give Grams some credit. She may be on to something.

God gives good gifts. He gives work that blisters our hands, stretches our minds, and brings satisfaction to our hearts. He gives the gift of his Spirit. God with us. God in us. He gives unwanted gifts, even undesirable gifts, and painful gifts that form and shape us into the image of his son, Jesus. He gives salvation from our sin and the promise of eternal life. All the gifts God gives are good gifts, but those aren’t the best gifts.

The best gift God gives is the gift of himself. This is the hope and reward for every Christian. It’s not that we get loot from God, but that we get God.

God puts gifts under our tree that we can enjoy, but he put his son on a tree so we can enjoy him. This Christmas thank God for the gift of himself. Enjoy him today. You will be enjoying him forever.

Merry Christmas.

by James Metsger

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God has given his children the gift of eternal life. There are at least two good things about the gift of eternal life. For starters, it’s eternal. I can’t stand it when things don’t last…and nothing lasts forever! My new shirt gets a stain, my new shoes get scuffed up, and my new car gets dinged up. I know this is how it works. I was always told (usually by ex-girlfriends), “James, nothing last forever.” But that isn’t entirely true. Unlike toys from the Dollar Store the life God gives lasts forever. Have you ever found yourself saying, “I wish this could last forever”? Life with God does.

There are some things that you don’t want to last forever: a trip to the dentist, a nagging injury, and a Chicago Cubs season all come to mind. Some things need to come to their proper end and it’s good when they do. But you don’t want life with God to come to an end. Life with God is day after day, moment by moment on inexpressible joy. And it never stops.

Soon our days won’t end with regret, disappointment, or defeat. We will experience life as God intended it to be. Tomorrow when the happiness high comes to a screeching halt and you’re faced with the reality of the daily grind remember that eternal life awaits you. It has already been given but you won’t fully enjoy it just yet. Don’t worry the time will come soon. You will unwrap the gift that never ends and experience the life you’ve always wanted.

Eternal life is a good gift from the hand of God, but there is still one more gift that God wants to give. Tomorrow we will find out what it is.

by James Metsger

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (Ephesians 2:8 ESV)

To be saved is a bit of a foreign concept. Up until this point I haven’t been rescued from a burning building. Nobody has had to breathe air into my lungs while medics hurried to my rescue. I have had exactly zero near death experiences except for the time I hit a deer on the highway. Even then I realized I was in better shape than she was. Sure, I’ve told a friend “Man, you just saved my life” a few times but usually it was because he took good notes when I skipped class. It’s hard to imagine what it means to be saved. At least it does until you realize your desperate and dire condition.

In order to be saved you need to know you have to be rescued. That realization can come slowly. Like a frog in a pot of slow boiling water our world for can seem a bit warm, but overall fairly comfortable. By the time we realize we have a problem it’s too late. Maybe that’s why Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus and told them:   

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)

Paul tells the church, “Don’t forget your roots. Remember where you came from. You were on the losing side and loving it. But you weren’t alone. We’ve all been there before.” Spiritually speaking we were dead on arrival. But…

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

What have we been saved from? We’ve been saved from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and one day we will be saved from the presence of sin. We don’t pay God back for our sin. The penalty has been paid in Christ and God does not send us a repayment book. That’s good news, but it gets even better. We’re being saved from the presence of sin.

At one time we were dead in the “trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” We were lost and loving it. We couldn’t get out of our own way. But sin no longer has a death grip on our hearts. We don’t have to walk away defeated, helpless, and hopeless. God, by His Spirit, gives us increasing victory over sin. Notice I said we are being saved from the power of sin. That means we’re not there yet-we haven’t arrived. If anyone tells you otherwise encourage him to head to the back of the line. He’s lying and full of pride.           

One day we will also be saved from the presence of sin. Sin will no longer set up base camp in our hearts. Personally, I can’t wait for that once and for all closet cleaning to take place. I need a renovation. I long to have a conversation that isn’t tainted by sin. I can’t wait to do right for all the right reasons. I can’t wait to see God for who is and not just for what he does. I can’t wait to have a faith that is sure, steady, steadfast, and doesn’t shift with the wind and the waves. I can’t wait, but I will. Salvation is near.

by James Metsger

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10 ESV)

 Wanted: Weaklings

I can’t imagine that slogan ever made it past Round 1 of the cutting room floor for potential Army slogans. “There’s strong and then there’s Army strong” sounds better than “Attention: pansies, mama’s boys, potential cry babies, and weak-willed wannabes–we need you!” It’s strength that inspires, motivates, and moves men and women to do great things for those they love.

But then there’s Paul. Paul said, “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses.”

Paul embraced his limitations. Admittedly he wasn’t excited about it out of the gate. He pleaded (begged!) with the Lord that his limitations leave him. Who wouldn’t want freedom from frailty? But Paul’s response to his weakness (many speculate what it was but we don’t know for sure) was strange in an other-worldly sort of way. “I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses.” Boast in weakness? Don’t pull that line out at a job interview. Can you imagine that conversation? “You want me to talk about my strengths? What do I bring to the table? Actually, if I may, I’d like to focus more on my many shortcomings and weaknesses.” Yikes! You pull that one and you’ll quickly hear, “Thanks for coming. Don’t call us. We’ll call you.”
 
The invitation to life with God is mailed out to the weak and needy, not the strong and self-sufficient. No physical training test is required. Not only are weaklings welcome, but weakness is required. Weakness is in fact a gift. It’s a gift because when we embrace our weaknesses, our limitations, and our frailness we learn to lean heavy on a God who is strong and limitless. Today thank God for your weaknesses and for his great strength.

by Brian Goins

I’m not sure when we starting putting gift receipts in the boxes, but I am all for it. The gift receipt basically says, “I think you’d like this Christmas sweater festooned with bells on the reindeer antlers, but if by chance you don’t or, more than likely, already have one, get what you really want.”

They didn’t start that tradition soon enough. When I was nine I’m sure my Christmas list was nine pages long. Most items had to do with characters I could fit in my Millennium Falcon. So when I felt a heavy box about the size of an X-Wing Fighter, I tore into it (for those who don’t know about Star Wars, I feel sorry for your childhood).

Instead of Star Wars, I read, “Stetson.” The box smelled like a well-worn saddle.

Inside I discovered various bottles and plastic containers entitled Musk, Talcum Powder, and something called, “Toilette Water.” Now that was funny.

There’s always an unexpected, or dare I say, unwanted gift lurking under the Christmas tree.

God has been known to give us his fair share of cologne packs: unexpected or unwanted gifts that make us hunt for a gift receipt.

• When Joseph’s seven-prison sentence was doubled
• When Paul was turned down for a date, again (1 Cor. 7:7-8)
• When young Mary discovered she was pregnant…before she was married
• When Jesus asked to return the cup his dad gave him

Injustice. Singleness. Reproach. Suffering. I doubt they loved opening those presents. This year, I’d imagine a few of us received some “gifts” we’d rather return.

In Romans, Paul reminds us, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29). In other words, when God wraps up the Stetson Cologne Pack, he doesn’t include the gift receipt. Joseph’s gift of injustice gave his family deliverance; Paul’s gift of bachelorhood gave hope to the Gentiles; Mary’s gift of reproach gave us a Savior; and Jesus’ gift of suffering gave us salvation.

What gift from God would you like to return this year? Can you trust that such gifts have a greater purpose than you?

Sometimes God gives us “toilette water” so we might become a pleasing “aroma” to others.

by Brian Goins

What’s red, has a white cross on it, and is craved by every nine year old and suburban dad?

Yeah, that’s right, the Swiss Army Knife.

I’m not sure if they are standard issue in the Swiss Army, but it may be the reason they stay neutral in every war. You never hear Bear Gryllis say, “This episode of Man vs Wild is sponsored by Swiss Army Knives: The Ultimate Survival Tool.”

The knife can cut through butter, as long as it’s at room temperature. If you find yourself trapped by tiny branches, never fear, they packed a tiny saw in your arsenal. If you’re on a date and see some shoddy nails across the table, let your file do the talking. The barbeque joint ran out of toothpicks? That’s what the skinny white pick is for. You don’t even have to wash it before you put it back in its sheath.

Spot a nose hair before you head up on stage? Across from the toothpick sits a set of tweezers. Can’t untie the Christmas bow on your gift? Let those elf like scissors spring into action. Your glasses fall apart right before the movie? No worries, it’s equipped with the smallest screwdriver known to man.

In the words of my childhood hero, Crocodile Dundee, “That’s not a knife!”

Knowing we would face huge challenges in this world (John 16:33), God gave his kids something more than a Swiss Army knife. The night before he died, Jesus said to his disciples that God would give them a Helper – “to be with you forever” (John 14:16). (Unlike Swiss Army Knives. They have a way of slithering out of your pocket.)

We tend to think of the Spirit as a one-tool wonder. He slaps us on our hand when we sin. And while he, like a knife, cuts through our heart when we sin (John 16:8), Jesus outlined a few more tools in the Spirit arsenal:

• A Can-Opener: He opens up the meaning of God’s word (John 14:26)
• A Flashlight: He guides us in all things (John 15:13)
• A Power Source: He enables us to love and endure all things (Rom. 8:1-17; 26-28)

Look at the before and after pictures of the disciples. Before the Cross, they cowered; after His death, they courageously preached before angry mobs, sang in prisons, and endured stonings.

The difference? They unwrapped God’s ultimate Survival Tool: The Spirit.

Every day we face something beyond our power to accomplish. Are you using God’s gift today?

by Brian Goins

Quick – write down words that come to your mind when I say, “WORK or TOIL or JOB.”

Did any of the words look like “gift” or “present”?

For many of us, work is what we do so we can afford to escape from work. Outside of paying the bills, what is work good for?

That’s the same question the author of Ecclesiastes asked, “What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with (insert your busy job here). He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil – this is God’s gift to man” (Eccl. 3:9-13).

I’ve taken much pleasure in Chick-Fil-A’s sandwiches and a batch of John A’s Christmas Egg Nog. I love opening those presents. But “all my toil?” Even the word “toil,” sounds hard and unpleasant. When God created society, he could have set up a system where we get paid for eight hours of sleep instead of eight hours of work. That would create a whole new urgency for the Sunday afternoon slumber, “Honey, I really want to try and pay off that car soon. I’m going to take a nap.”

But God created us in his image. Throughout the Psalms, the authors encourage us to consider the “works” of His hand. We, created in the image of God, were created to create, to work, to toil. Manual labor wasn’t a consequence of the Fall, but a gift in the garden (Gen. 2:5).

True we still deal with the thorns. But underneath the thistles is pleasure you won’t find after riding a roller coaster or taking a trip to Disney or pushing back from a holiday feast. It’s the pleasure of a job well done.

God said, “It pleased the Lord to crush him” (Is. 53:10). Despite the thorns, God found pleasure in the Cross. The heavy toil of the cross wasn’t fun, but it was pleasant. There’s a certain satisfaction that sweeps over your heart whenever you say, “It is finished.” Whether laying a brick wall, corralling toddlers, writing devotionals, or shouldering a curse, our toil is a gift from God.

I’m glad Jesus found pleasure in his work. Do you?