For those of us with parents in the “golden” years, it’s a challenge to give them something for Christmas. They already have everything they need and what they don’t have, they can buy. It’s similar to giving Christmas gifts to your baby for his/her first year or subsequent years. What do they need? Nothing. What can they play with? Not a lot. It’s a challenge.
What did the wise men bring to Jesus? Gold, frankincense and myrrh. What kind of good did that do a baby? Not much. Maybe Joseph and Mary used the gold to buy food and sold the frankincense and myrrh to have funds to travel back home. They were expensive gifts no doubt. But not practical. What do you give to someone who doesn’t need anything?
The girls came home from school and said, “Dad, my friends get more allowance than I do.” I responded, “You don’t even NEED an allowance! What do you NEED that we don’t give you anyway?” What can you give someone who doesn’t need anything?
What does God need from us? Nothing. What does God want from us? Nothing. He doesn’t need anything. Nothing we can give God makes Him any wealthier or happier. It’s all His anyway. If He wanted something, He could produce it out of thin air.
When we first started giving an allowance to the girls, one Sunday I asked the girls what they were going to give to “church.” They held out their hands with all of the allowance. My first reaction was, “You DON’T give all of it!” (We’re trying to teach them to budget.) But then I stopped myself. Isn’t that what God tells us to do? Doesn’t He want us to give Him everything? We can’t give God any thing. He doesn’t need it.
But what God does want is all of us. If we are immersed in Christ, there’s no question how we’ll use our time. If we are immersed in Christ, there’s no debate over how we’ll use our money. If we are immersed into Christ, we don’t have to make decisions about whether to use our abilities to serve Christ.
What does God want? He wants a living gift. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).
Today, remind yourself that your time and money are on loan from God. How will you use it for Him?
–Paul Holland