UTLIMATE GIFTS

What did your last Christmas present cost the giver? Have you ever thought that the cost of gift DOES matter? We are taught that it is culturally unacceptable to openly consider the cost of a gift given to us. In fact the giver goes to great lengths (usually) to remove any evidence of cost before giving the gift. I remember several occasions where I forgot to remove price tags and ended up with a red face when the gift was opened. But the whole issue of cost is still important. Just think about the old mantra that is always repeated when the price tag is left on a gift " it's not the cost that counts, it's the thought that counts..."

In our society we are very focused on dollars and cents and sometimes have trouble looking past those figures when considering costs. Even economists have some sense of opportunity costs that are lost or gained which are not a dollar value (although they turn around and try to assign a dollar value to them). The cost of a gift can be great to the giver and without costing any money. The idea that the thought counts echoes this truth. A gift given out of great consideration, love and effort means far more than a gift which costs a large amount of moola.

We were given the ultimate gift at Christmas.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

It cost God His only son. It took a great deal of sacrifice to give that gift. Have we considered the cost of that gift? When we do, we will begin to appreciate how life changing and heart affecting that gift can and should be to us as recievers. Perhaps it will change us to the point that next time we give a gift to God it won't be the cheap, easy to give gift, but instead, a well-thought-out, hard-earned, blood, sweat and tears kind of gift. Why not start out with worship that costs us something. Not just singing out like a fool but singing when you don't feel like it, giving when it hurts, helping when you feel like sleeping. Those gifts will warm the heart of God and will be "living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." Romans 12:1