“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Eph. 4:7(NKJV)
What is a gift? Isn’t it something that is given to someone? Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birthday and the main emphasis is giving gifts. How many people ever make the connection?
The Scriptures have some interesting things to say about gifts. Many sermons have been preached about the Gifts of the Spirit with all kinds of ideas involved. Some of the ideas come from trying to make the Bible say what they want it to say. Why don’t we just take what it says and not try to interpret it saying something else?
For instance I cannot find any clear scripture that even implies that spiritual gifts were to pass away before Jesus’ return. There is no teaching in scripture that healing was to stop with the last apostle.
Why do people insist on believing things they cannot support without scripture twisting? This is usually done in order to make scripture agree with their experience. The problem with that is experiences change but scriptures do not.
Scripture is always true no matter what we may experience. If I am broke, it doesn’t change the fact that God wants His people to prosper. If I have physical symptoms of illness, it doesn’t change the fact that God heals the believer.
All of God’s gifts have one thing in common, they are all “gifts” and should be treated as such. No one earns a gift; it is freely given. As a recipient of a gift all we can do is be thankful and use the gift as it is intended.
As recipients of Christ’s gift we should be thankful and use it the way it should be used. Oh, by the way, we didn’t earn any of it by our works.