I have been given much. Nothing that I have is a gift from myself. I put clothes on that my parents insisted that the buy me as the life of a graduate student demands that I tighten the belt on my expenses. The bed I sleep in at night was first a gift from a good friend who had recovered it from a remodeling project and secondly as a gift from Anderson University when they chose to give it away after replacing all the beds in several of their dorms. After exprienceing some anxiety regarding obtaining a job for the coming summer, a new friend introduced me to her employer and now I will be working several jobs that pay better than any job I have yet worked.
Yes, I have bought my own book, I buy my own food, and buy some of my own clothes, and the knowledge and wisdom I have sought, I have found. Nothing I have acquired have I acquired by my own ability. Many people work daily to print profound words on clean white pages, a thousand farmers raise vegetables and animals and earn a living from the food in my refrigerator, and many hands skillfully sew the clothes upon my back--many of theses hands belonging to persons living in other countries.
These are all good things, but God gives even greater gifts than these to those who seek God with open hearts. Freedom to love without fear and the imprisoning and crippling drive to survive, courage to live the life that is victorious over obstacles and the debris of a fallen world, wisdom to see rightly the way that is best, and the joy and peace that resides within the heart rather than the happiness and calm that is so quickly blown away like a hat is blown off by a sudden gust of wind.
The gifts God lavishes are given to me so freely, yet they are not for me. They are not given so that I can glory in the favor I receive so richly. They are not granted so that I might be proven righteous in a sinful world. They are not given to me so that I can walk in this world with a confidence that says, "Here I come to save the day!" Every gift is given so that Jesus Christ might be glorified in the eyes of all as the favord one, the righteous one, and the one in whom all confidence might be placed. All that I have is given to me so that I might be a living witness to the life that Jesus, the King on heaven's throne, gives to all who seek from him reconciliation with God, fellow human beings, and all creation.
Yet the light of glory that these gifts shed upon Christ Jesus do not merely rest upon him so that he is magnified like earthly kings who rise above all others and drink deeply of their own glory. Jesus holds the cup as a benediction before God and, mixing it with God's mercy, justice, and the prayers of the people of God, he pours it out upon all so that the work of redemption might be completed upon the earth and so that God might be glorified in all because of God's unfailing love, his victorious justice, and the people whose lives bear the very fruit of the Christ who lives to redeem them.
All that I have received is not for me, but for One; these things are not only for the One, but for all to the glory of God forever and ever. Amen.
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