Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

 

Our hunger to love and be loved beats inside us daily.  God, who is love, made us this way. And God gives us good ways for our love needs to be met.

 

The tragedy of missed love … and the joy of rediscovered love … is played out in Jesus’ classic parable of the loving father, prodigal son, and elder brother. When the younger son demanded his inheritance (Luke 15:12), the father gave it with loving purpose but grieved that his son had turned his possessions into a transaction rather than a gift.  Instead of the inheritance being received as a rite of passage with love’s tenderness, the angry son turned the moment into a stinging act of rebellion.

 

When the remorseful son returned from the far country, having squandered (15:14,30) his monetary inheritance, he received a surprising grace filled reception.  The son’s rebellion was forgiven.  His return into the family was signified by four gifts – the family’s best robe, the family’s signet ring, the family’s business sandals, and a rip-roaring party (15:22-23,27,30).  Not everyone, however, was happy with the father giving these gifts.  The elder brother either did not understand why these gifts were being given, or did understand and despised his father for doing it.  Jesus concluded the parable by not concluding it.  The elder brother had a decision to make.  What would he decide?  Would he join in the gift-giving or would he rebel against love’s transforming power.

 

What is your decision?  What is mine?

 

Seeing the Connection

Gift giving is a love language.  The giving and receiving of gifts is a God provided way for us to connect meaningfully with each other.

 

The gift giver invests time, energy, talent, and sometimes money to make the gift happen.  The gift receiver, accepts the intent and act of the gift in such a way that the gift’s good purpose is absorbed. Seeing this connection makes all the difference.  It turns the event into an ongoing experience.  Consequently, whenever the gift is used, seen or recalled – the love behind the gift is experienced all over again.

 

This can happen in life’s everyday moments if we have the eyes that see the connections.  For instance, one day, sitting at the kitchen table, the father asked the son to offer the evening prayer before the meal.  Before praying, the boy turned to his mother & father.  He said, “thank you for preparing the meal and for earning the money to make it possible for us to have this food to eat.” The parents were deeply touched.  Tears formed in their eyes.  They nodded to their son, acknowledging his gratitude.  Then the boy thanked God for the farmers & ranchers who worked the land to produce the food, and the merchants who made the food accessible.  In knowing that God is the maker of heaven & earth, the boy thanked God for creating everything that is good which made this family meal possible.

 

The boy got it.  He understood the interplay of connections which are needed for life to be lived successively and God’s creation to be enjoyed.

 

God does what only God can do so we can do what only we can do.  God empowers us to be trustworthy partners by gift giving.  This partnership is what makes successful living possible.  God gives us good gifts so we can be good gift givers.  Giving gifts is a way of expressing that life includes us but is not just about us.

 

Becoming a Gift Giver

By our not just receiving gifts … but maturing to the place where we know how to give gifts … is one of the clearest markers of maturity.

 

Whether it is the little girl giving her drawing to a friend or the offering we place into today’s offering plate, we are saying how we want to extend ourselves into each other’s hearts.

 

Receiving the gift through loving recognition means that we commit to honor the gift giver through enacting the gift’s meaning by passing the blessing on to others.

 

Pastor Les Hollon

 

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

-Matthew 2:1-2 (NIV)

 

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

-Matthew 2:9-11 (NIV)

 

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

-Luke 15:21-24 (NIV)

 

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

-Luke 15: 28-31 (NIV)

 

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

-Luke 21:1-4 (NIV)

 

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

 

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