Have You Received Your Gift?

"I don't accept no charity from nobody." 

"I've never accepted handouts from anyone in my life and I ain't going to start now." 

Each of us has heard a lot of things like this. Maybe you've said such things yourself. 

You may want to believe – and want others to believe – that you are a  "self-made man." You may think that you have been able to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

But the truth is that none of us manufactured all of the oxygen we breathe. God has given it to us freely. None of us has created the life we live. "For the Lord giveth," Job said. We didn't mix the water (H2O) that we drink. This was done for us. We didn't create a brain for ourselves with which to think. We didn't form a heart in our chest that pumps our blood throughout our bodies. We didn't pay for our own feet or hands with which we move and work.

As we look around and within, we see that just about everything we have has been given to us. 

It is pride which says, "I must pay for everything." In pride, I may not allow anyone else to pay for my meal. I think that I must be the one who pays for everything.

You may have worked for the money with which you pay for your food, but the food itself came from amazing plants and animals that God placed here on our planet. If you don't believe me, try going somewhere like Mars or any other planet in the universe and see what kind of food you can scare up for yourself. The bible says:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights... – James 1.17

It also tells us to trust "in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy." (1 Timothy 6.17)

The greatest gift God ever gave you is his Son. This means that Jesus was God come down to us in flesh. We read in John 3.16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

God gave us his Son. He did not bargain with us to require something of us in return. He gave him to us and for us. Isaiah wrote:

For unto us, a child is born. Unto us a Son is given

Eternal life is a gift:

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6.23).

It is free, gratis, without charge, irrevocable, without stipulation and priceless. If you try to work to pay for God's favor, you will never get it paid. The debt is too great, but it was paid for by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace.

Have you received your free gift?