Be warmed and filled

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them,”Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? James 2:15-16

It is the season of giving...we give to the poor and needy, give to those who have plenty, and give to the Goodwill or Salvation Army money or things that were just replaced by the newer things we just received. I struggled this year to come up with gifts to give, especially to family. Two of my children are married and live in small spaces, and the other 2 are moving into apartments with multiple other people. There are few needs that are tangible. Money seems to be the real need, for things like gas and bills, rent and moving expenses. There were a few small items we did buy, and the stockings were stuffed, but the gifts I would have loved to buy them would have been a burden and not a blessing. We need desperately to clean our place out of the multiple things we have here...especially since work will commence on the house...a bathroom that hasn't functioned for about 15 years will be gutted and made to work, and the lights that have been shorted for about 8 years will finally be replaced and lamps will not have to grace the living room. And all the stuff will need to go SOMEWHERE while this all happens. Thus the dilemma of stuff.

A devotion I read this morning said it all about gifts...”rebirth into eternal life. This everlasting gift was the sole purpose of My entering your sin-stained world.” Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, Dec. 24

Pondering this thought, I grieve at how people reject help, salvation, and gifts, especially this one. Why would this be?

I love to quilt...it is just in my blood. If I stay away from it for a while, I think, “Why do I do this? It seems irrational to slowly make blankets for people. Why don't I just get a job, buy cheap blankets and donate them to the causes, and be done with it? More people would be warmed. More people could get help. My house wouldn't be filled with fabric, machines, yarns and needles, if I would just buy the stuff. And it would be cheaper...”

Then I sit at the machine or with a quilt basted on my lap. I look through the books of patterns and colors, and I smile. Some of this is for me as well as for them. I couldn't buy enough blankets to cover a fraction of the needy in the world...sure a few more than I can make, but there is not the love in a standard-issue blanket that is in a hand-made quilt, and everybody knows it, including the recipient. A kid handed a blanket may cover themselves in a hospital bed, but they already have a blanket issued by the hospital. But the home-made one warms the soul...it is the one they snuggle up with, not the one that came on the bed. The knit chemo hat, warm, soft and fuzzy, will cover a bald head with love.

What does this have to do with the everlasting gift above? Jesus came into the world to save us sinners. We are like Him when we take blankets, food, and love to third-world countries, do missions work, and give of ourselves. He could have sent the gift without sending Himself, but He put Himself into the gift...He WAS the gift. And like those who go to help, there are those who would fight against them, not trusting that their gifts were good or their intentions honorable. How many have been martyred for the cause of love and giving? Jesus was. He came to give, and to give His best – life with Him in heaven for all of eternity...a way out of eternal damnation, for heaven's sake. What greater gift can you give your enemy but to bring him to your side and treat him as a son with all the rights and privileges thereof? And instead of taking the gift with gratitude and humility, knowing in their heart of hearts they need it, they insist on thinking that it is a trap, a guise, an evil. When we see those shooting down planes of food and clothing because they do not love or trust, we are grieved. We sorrow over what they could have had and how they would choose to destroy the gift and the giver. But it is a reflection of Christ. He was despised and rejected by most, but gave life to many. He would have given to all if all would have received. He didn't save everyone, and I can't either. But He gave in love to all who would receive, and I will try to, too. He was suspected of having ulterior motives by those who didn't like the fact He was winning over the hearts and minds of the poor and oppressed, and I will be suspected, too. It is ok. If I can be like Him, even in these ways, I will take it.

But the real question is whether YOU have received the Gift, or shunned the Giver. You know you need to be saved from yourself, and He is the answer to the sin-problem in your life just as He is in mine. We are human, so we need Him. End of story. Take the Gift...confess your need for The Savior...He only has your best at heart. It's the gift that doesn't take up more room in your home...but it will fill that empty space in your heart.