December 18 2024 — The Gift that Grows
To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. — Ephesians 4:7 NIV
It’s Christmastime again, and you know what that means! The annual “white elephant” gift exchange. Each person has the option of choosing a wrapped present or seizing one already selected and unwrapped by someone else. As more packages are opened, stealing increasingly becomes the go-to option. “I’ll take your gift, thank you very much.” It’s a zero-sum game: one person’s gain is another person’s loss. So anticipation mounts — who will finish with the more coveted gifts, and who will be stuck with . . . let’s just say the “more memorable” ones? The two I remember most? A bullwhip and a porcelain bedpan. (I tried to market the latter as an antique, but there were no takers.)
Not all gift exchanges are “winner take all,” fortunately, and one that immediately comes to mind is grace. Grace is not “I win; you lose”; it is quite the opposite — liberated by God’s grace to me, I gratefully share the same with you. As Jesus said, “Freely you have received; freely give.”1 Then, grace multiplies, it spreads, it bears fruit, it “keeps giving.” For grace itself “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”2 What a relief! May we live as we ought.
Ironically, for some of us giving grace is especially difficult during the holidays. For we gather with those who know us the best and who “punch our buttons” the most, sometimes knowingly and perhaps more often not. As a bumper sticker reads: “I’ll be home for Christmas and in therapy by New Year.” So, why not live this season in grace? Why not pause to consider God’s patience with us and His forbearance toward us, and in humility and thankfulness, share the gift of grace with those who struggle against sin as much as we do. Paul exhorts us, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”3
Grace can be difficult to give, for it calls us to expel our pride and become vulnerable again. But gifts await us in exchange. Maybe even the gift of joy.
Live grace. Give grace.
Father, from [Jesus’] fullness we have all received grace upon grace.4 Fill us with Your Spirit, that we would extend this grace to others, especially those who punch our buttons. In Christ we pray. Amen.
1 Matthew 10:8 NIV
2 Titus 2:12 NIV
3 Colossians 3:13 NLT
4 John 1:16 ESV
Paul Nordman—Author 