Accepting the Gift of God

So I’ve wondered if one of the reasons I give and give and give is because I have not yet truly taken in the gift God has so generously offered. 

It’s a good time to pay attention to little habits, or outright bold beliefs, that not only shape our everyday life but also may reveal something far more important.

How do you feel about owing someone something?

If someone does a kindness, do you feel you “should” pay them back? Someone offers you the last bit of soup in a delicious pot of New England clam chowder they’ve successfully sold all day—for free. “You’re hungry. It’s the end of the day and we’re closing up anyway. Take the chowder and the chips—on me.” This happened to me a  while back, and I felt the need to give something, but the two guys behind the counter wouldn’t take a thing.

Think about regular gatherings where you signed up to bring food. Is there ever a time you’d show up empty-handed? Given the choice, would you A) go empty-handed, because this time you just couldn’t pull it together—you were too stretched, too tired, too overwhelmed, too late—or B) not go at all? (I would NEVER show up empty-handed!) 

I’m not talking about those whose habit it is to always take the handouts and always show up empty-handed (I pray that’s not you, but if it is, this devotional is NOT for you). 

I’m talking to you who may feel or articulate: I pull my weight. I will not owe people—my friends, my siblings, my neighbors. I don’t do indebtedness. 

If that’s you—always the giver, always the benevolent one, always in the seat of generosity—like me, you’re in danger.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

You may think, Oh, that’s different. I know I can’t buy my way into God’s favor. I know everything I am and have is only by the generosity and grace—undeserved favor—of God. I know tha-at.

No, you don’t.

And neither do I.

If we generally live as I described with the people we can see, how much more do we, down deep, live like that when it comes to the God we can’t see! It’s highly likely you, like I, don’t quite understand that God is the giver. God won’t be bought. Our actions reveal just how uncomfortable we are receiving this kind of outrageous grace. We think, or live, I have to contribute something. Look, I have this to offer.

And God will have none of it. 

It is all a gift.

This week, see if you’re like me in this struggle. Try receiving the offer for help, the food, the invitation. See how that feels. Is it uncomfortable? Can you even do it? And talk to God about what you discover. 

I’m real because God is so real.
~Nancy