Homemade Gifts

 

During the season of Christmas I have been expressing messages of faith through a teleconference. I will share one today. Enjoy!

If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you. Luke 6:38

Luke 6:38

Today’s Truth: Homemade Gifts 

The world would like us to believe that the success of Christmas depends upon how much we spend, how many presents we give, or how many presents we receive. Christmas is about giving, but price tags do not determine the success of our giving. Giving is not dependent on the condition of our checkbook. Giving is dependent on the condition of our heart. For that, I am so glad! Like you, we have to plan carefully what we buy and how much we spend on each gift. As a result, we have discovered some creative ways to give gifts from the heart, meaningful gifts that cost very little.

A homemade gift 

In 1 Corinthians 4:12 Paul teaches that we should “work hard with our own hands.” This principle can easily be applied to Christmas gifts. Giving a homemade gift represents time, thought, and is a part of you. One year, when my children were small, as a favorite Christmas tradition we decided to create and deliver a homemade hot chocolate mix in decorated mason jars to our neighbors. We placed the jars just to the left of each neighbor’s front door, rang their doorbell and ran like crazy! I am not certain who had the most fun … our neighbors or us. But every year, we were amazed by how much the neighbors enjoyed our homemade gift.

A possession gift In Matthew 6:40 Jesus spoke about giving away the shirt and coat on our backs. Giving something we already own can be a wonderful Christmas gift if it is something of special value to us. In other words, it is not the idea of getting rid of junk, but of sharing our treasure. Do not ask the question, “What can I buy for Bobby?” Ask the question, “What do I have that would mean a lot to Bobby?” I use to collect humming birds. And I mentioned this one day in a sermon. The next Sunday, one of my church members came to church with a ceramic humming bird that she had had for many years. I was grateful that she passed it to me and entrusted me with its care. It was and still is one of my most precious possessions. As I matter of fact I left the hummingbird in the bathroom in Columbus, Georgia. SMH!

A gift of time

Time is a valuable gift, a precious commodity. The apostle Paul wrote, “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity” (Ephesians 5:15-16, NIV). When we give someone 30 minutes of our time, we are giving them 30 minutes of our life. While in seminary, I rarely had a spare minute or extra dollar between school and work. I was working myself to near death and ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. And even though I was ill, the gift of time was afforded me through my friends and family in Columbus, Georgia. They visited me everyday I was in the hospital. I was afforded the time to rest and the time to spend with my friends and family. I will always remember that unusual wonderful gift of time.

A gift of prayer

The greatest gift we can give someone is the commitment to pray for them consistently. James writes, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results” (James 5:16, NLT). Following our traditional Christmas Eve service last year in Richmond, VA, an elderly lady approached me and said, “I don’t have anything to give you, Pastor. But I want you to know that I will pray for you, your mother and your family every morning this year at 6:00 a.m.” And she did! What a priceless gift! Every time she saw me, this sweet lady asked what I needed and how she should pray. Only Heaven knows all that God accomplished in my life through the prayers of this godly woman.

A gift of encouragement 

As the writer of Proverbs says, encouragement is a powerful gift. “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up” (Proverbs 12:25, NIV). We assume the people in our lives know how much they mean to us. They rarely do. This Christmas, write a letter to someone you love and appreciate, telling them how important they are to you. Be specific. A written note or letter requires time, careful thought and allows that person to read your words of encouragement again and again. One of my best of best girlfriends used to put messages of encouragement in my lunch bag. In that bag, was a stored message on a small stickie note with words of affirmations so that even on those “blue” days, I could pull out a dose of encouragement. I still have some of those notes to this day. One year, we were instructed to write a letter of encouragement to ourselves, put it in a envelope and label it with our address. The letters were placed in the Human Resource department. This year when I had surgery on my knee, I received my letter I wrote to myself and it encouraged my soul. That’s the power of gifts from the heart! Tomorrow I will share five more gifts from the heart. I pray this holiday season will lead us once again to the manger, where we will worship the Christ child and experience a Christmas holiday filled with love, peace and joy.

Now It’s on You

Read and memorize Luke 6:38 that says, “If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you.”

1. How does this verse reflect the importance of giving?
2. What does this verse say about the attitude of giving?
3. Write God’s promise to you when you give from the heart?

Have a wonderful day on purpose!