Abundant Gifts for You .............. Parables 298

December 24, 1991

For many, this is the happiest time of year. Family gathers and warm memories are shared. Happy celebrations around the piano singing, around the table laughing. Gifts opened and squeals of delight echo through the house and Christmas is a time of abundance.

For some, this is the saddest time of year. Perhaps memories are not heart-warming; a Christmas past brought heartache. Perhaps celebrations are not happy; a family member is addicted to spirits of a chemical variety. Perhaps gift-giving brings no joy; hard times or foolish spending robbed the children of their toys. And those who yearn for an abundant Christmas spend it in physical, mental and emotional poverty.

The occasion is the birth of Christ (remember?) and the party is in His honor. Will the fact that the party has been ruined a few times destroy forever that abundance longed for and yet seemingly so out of reach? Or does the Christ child, now a resurrected and exalted King, still have a gift unopened for you?

For those who mourn and cannot applaud His birth, Jesus reaches out across time, across a million scarred and ruined holidays and cries, “This thief came to steal and kill and destroy... but I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.”

Abundant life. Anyone who searches the Word of God looking for more presents, a bigger tree, a nicer car, a larger wardrobe, a fancier house, will not find that kind of abundance. Jesus says anything that rots, mildews, or rusts is not worthy of our Christmas list. He has far more valuable treasures in His “santa sack”.

The first parcel is labeled “PARDON.” He offers it with this word: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him... for He will abundantly pardon.” The gift tag is made out “To __________”, so whoever wants this parcel can fill in their name and help themselves.

The second gift is labeled “RENEWAL.” This abundance is for those whose lives have been scarred by their own foolishness, at Christmas time and otherwise. When they fill out the tag on the first gift, this is what they receive: “...not by your good works, but according to His mercy He saves you, through washing you with new life and renewing you by the Holy Spirit... whom He poured out on you abundantly through Jesus Christ your Savior.” This Gift-giver trades His New Life for your old memories.

The next parcel is labeled “SATISFACTION” for He knows we need more than tinsel and glitter. “They (those who receive the first two parcels) are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of His house, and He gives them drink from the river of His pleasures.”

Whether the tree be buried under a great mound of worldly treasures or barren as a greedy man’s heart, the Lord’s gift of satisfaction doesn’t depend on cash flow. Furthermore, it also is free!

Is there any more? Yes, for those memories and miseries that threaten joy all year round, He offers still more surprise-packages. But these have no label and no one knows what is in them until they help themselves. Here is their promise: “He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us....”

Whatever we ask for, whatever we can imagine that would make Christmas and all of life wonderful... He is able to do more, exceedingly abundantly more. And as we turn away from our rotting, rusting treasure and allow Him to give us His gifts, we find the last and most lasting parcel there for us.

It is called “HOPE,”the promise of “an entrance supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

With that, He vows someday the celebration will be totally without tears. For now, we can bring the sorrows of our celebrations to Jesus and let Him turn every one into abundance.

Justice and a pardon offered ........................... Parables 049

The school bus was “speeding” . . . through the school zone!

It was 3:45. Students were still at the crosswalks, on the sidewalks, and walking out of the school.
There wasn’t a police car in sight. All that driver received for his offense was the protest I uttered to my two passengers, a protest that he didn’t even hear. Is This justice?

Justice, according to the dictionary, is the rendering of what is due. It is getting what is deserved, or what is earned. Justice can mean a reward for what is good but we usually think of it as punishment for a crime.

Crimes against God are called sin. The Bible defines these “crimes” in various ways:

• “Sin is the transgression of the law” 1 John 3:4
• “All unrighteousness is sin” 1 John 5:17
• “Whatever is not of faith is sin” Romans 14:23
• “The thought of foolishness is sin” Proverbs 24:9
• “He that despises his neighbor sins” Proverbs 14:21
• “In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking . . . ” Proverbs 10:19
• “He that knows to do good and doesn’t do it, for him, that is sin” James 4:17

The punishment for sin has also been declared: “The wages of sin is death . . . ” (Romans 6:23) 

This refers not just to physical death, but to spiritual death, which is separation from God forever.
The Bible says that God is perfectly just, but because we are not struck by lightning, or some such thing, when we break His laws, we tend to think that our transgressions don’t really matter to God, that maybe He looks the other way, or doesn’t care.

The cross of Jesus Christ should remind us that our sin matters very much to Him. Sin is such an offense to God that His Son suffered and died for it . . .  that sin had to be punished. God will not be unjust. Someone had to die to pay for it.

I’m sure that if the speeding bus driver had been caught and an innocent person offered to pay his fine or penalty, he would seriously consider the offer. In God’s system of justice, God does just that. The penalty was due and just, but it has been paid in full, by His Son.

Now He offers us pardon and forgiveness as a gift, but He leaves the decision to us. We can reject His offer, or accept it by faith.