God Gives Good Gifts
God Gives Good Gifts
What’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten? What’s the worst gift you’ve ever gotten?
I’ve found for myself that sometimes they turn out to be the opposite of what I expected. For example, a puppy may seem like a good gift to some. But then you gotta raise it, train it, and teach it to not use the bathroom inside the house. Teach it to not chew on all your stuff. Clean up whenever it breaks those two house rules because puppies don’t care what your human rules are, nor can they understand English or the comprehension of it in order to understand and then purposefully do the opposite thing than what you wanted said puppy to do. My point is… sometimes good gifts turn out bad.
And sometimes bad gifts turn out to be both useful and practical. Getting a pizza stone for a wedding gift might seem funny to a couple of young newlyweds, but it really comes in handy when you want to bake pizza at home. Car shades aren’t the most glamorous of gifts, but if you live in Florida where six months out of the year the temperature can reach 90+ degrees with a heat index that would make lava sweat, it comes in handy. Getting into a car that doesn’t feel quite like a Swedish sauna when you open the door is a blessing we can take for granted.
But what about gifts that come from God? Are all His gifts good? Are all His gifts benevolent and beneficial? Are all His gifts the ones we want and are thankful for? The answer to those questions is both yes and based on our perspective.
Part of spiritual maturity is continuing to have and keep the right perspective. Heck, much of life is about having and keeping the right perspective. But when it comes to God’s gifts it’s even more important. Part of spiritual maturity is being able to thank God for His no’s just as much as His yes’s.
A “no” always comes with good reason. The trick is, you may not ever know the “why.” But I have found that if you know God’s heart, you don’t need to know God’s reason. You may still want to know, but you don’t need to know because you trust the One who gave the “no.”
Here’s an example from my own life. Years ago I applied for the “perfect” job. Or at least I thought it was. I had experience. I was young and tenacious, full of energy and ideas. I was told I was too young. I was told no.
The “no” crushed me for a little while. But then I began to learn more about the organization from the inside and how it works. It took a few years (I shamefully admit bitter years), but I finally understood the “no.” I could not have been successful there at that time and under that leadership. It wouldn’t have been good for me. Which, in turn, wouldn’t have been good for the organization. And also, the “no” kept me hungry and slightly uncomfortable for more. This lead me to other opportunities and other open doors.
In Matthew 7 (and Luke 11), Jesus gives a very popular and possibly over-quoted verse about how to receive things. In verse 7 He tells us to ask, seek, and knock. And the verb tense used here means continuously and repeated activity. You don’t ask once, seek once, and knock once. That doesn’t really show desperation. If you wanted it bad enough you would keep on doing it until your ask was answered, your seek was found, and your knock opened a door.
But Jesus also didn’t stop there. Later on in the passage, just a few verses below in verse 11, is something amazing. He says, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” I love that Jesus ends it as a statement with an exclamation point, not a question with a question mark. God does give us good gifts. And that’s where the amazing thing happens.
When you look up that verse in the Greek, the word for “good” is agathos. One of the definitions is “good whether it is seen to be so or not.” Did you catch that? It’s about perspective! God sees the gifts and He knows they are good even if we don’t. He even sees the gift you want (or think you want) but He knows it’s not going to be good for you in the end. That He has something so much better stored up for you than you can even imagine.
Another definition for agathos is “good as to the believer.” God can give you something that is truly good that you refuse to see. God can give you something so good that you choose to believe isn’t.
Something simple yet profound that I’ve learned about gifts over the years is this… Sometimes good gifts come in ugly wrapping paper.
I know we all love Christmas or birthday presents with cute or cool wrapping paper. This isn’t exactly how God wraps His gifts. God doesn’t work like we do. God gives strength through struggle. He gives wisdom through adversity. He gives power and freedom through surrender. He doesn’t give like we do: He gives better. His gifts last longer.
So no matter what you may be asking for, or what you may be facing, you can still trust the Giver. He still knows how to give good gifts. He still knows how to say yes, no and you’re not ready yet. And if you trust His heart, you can trust His no. Don’t get caught up with the way the wrapping paper looks. The gift inside might be greater than you ever thought it could be.
What’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten? What’s the worst gift you’ve ever gotten?
I’ve found for myself that sometimes they turn out to be the opposite of what I expected. For example, a puppy may seem like a good gift to some. But then you gotta raise it, train it, and teach it to not use the bathroom inside the house. Teach it to not chew on all your stuff. Clean up whenever it breaks those two house rules because puppies don’t care what your human rules are, nor can they understand English or the comprehension of it in order to understand and then purposefully do the opposite thing than what you wanted said puppy to do. My point is… sometimes good gifts turn out bad.
And sometimes bad gifts turn out to be both useful and practical. Getting a pizza stone for a wedding gift might seem funny to a couple of young newlyweds, but it really comes in handy when you want to bake pizza at home. Car shades aren’t the most glamorous of gifts, but if you live in Florida where six months out of the year the temperature can reach 90+ degrees with a heat index that would make lava sweat, it comes in handy. Getting into a car that doesn’t feel quite like a Swedish sauna when you open the door is a blessing we can take for granted.
But what about gifts that come from God? Are all His gifts good? Are all His gifts benevolent and beneficial? Are all His gifts the ones we want and are thankful for? The answer to those questions is both yes and based on our perspective.
Part of spiritual maturity is continuing to have and keep the right perspective. Heck, much of life is about having and keeping the right perspective. But when it comes to God’s gifts it’s even more important. Part of spiritual maturity is being able to thank God for His no’s just as much as His yes’s.
A “no” always comes with good reason. The trick is, you may not ever know the “why.” But I have found that if you know God’s heart, you don’t need to know God’s reason. You may still want to know, but you don’t need to know because you trust the One who gave the “no.”
Here’s an example from my own life. Years ago I applied for the “perfect” job. Or at least I thought it was. I had experience. I was young and tenacious, full of energy and ideas. I was told I was too young. I was told no.
The “no” crushed me for a little while. But then I began to learn more about the organization from the inside and how it works. It took a few years (I shamefully admit bitter years), but I finally understood the “no.” I could not have been successful there at that time and under that leadership. It wouldn’t have been good for me. Which, in turn, wouldn’t have been good for the organization. And also, the “no” kept me hungry and slightly uncomfortable for more. This lead me to other opportunities and other open doors.
In Matthew 7 (and Luke 11), Jesus gives a very popular and possibly over-quoted verse about how to receive things. In verse 7 He tells us to ask, seek, and knock. And the verb tense used here means continuously and repeated activity. You don’t ask once, seek once, and knock once. That doesn’t really show desperation. If you wanted it bad enough you would keep on doing it until your ask was answered, your seek was found, and your knock opened a door.
But Jesus also didn’t stop there. Later on in the passage, just a few verses below in verse 11, is something amazing. He says, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” I love that Jesus ends it as a statement with an exclamation point, not a question with a question mark. God does give us good gifts. And that’s where the amazing thing happens.
When you look up that verse in the Greek, the word for “good” is agathos. One of the definitions is “good whether it is seen to be so or not.” Did you catch that? It’s about perspective! God sees the gifts and He knows they are good even if we don’t. He even sees the gift you want (or think you want) but He knows it’s not going to be good for you in the end. That He has something so much better stored up for you than you can even imagine.
Another definition for agathos is “good as to the believer.” God can give you something that is truly good that you refuse to see. God can give you something so good that you choose to believe isn’t.
Something simple yet profound that I’ve learned about gifts over the years is this… Sometimes good gifts come in ugly wrapping paper.
I know we all love Christmas or birthday presents with cute or cool wrapping paper. This isn’t exactly how God wraps His gifts. God doesn’t work like we do. God gives strength through struggle. He gives wisdom through adversity. He gives power and freedom through surrender. He doesn’t give like we do: He gives better. His gifts last longer.
So no matter what you may be asking for, or what you may be facing, you can still trust the Giver. He still knows how to give good gifts. He still knows how to say yes, no and you’re not ready yet. And if you trust His heart, you can trust His no. Don’t get caught up with the way the wrapping paper looks. The gift inside might be greater than you ever thought it could be.
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