Everyone who truly knows me knows that I absolutely love giving and receiving gifts. I love giving people gifts whether they be small or extravagant. My primary love language is gifts. (According to The 5 Love Languages by Gary D. Chapman, the 5 love languages are Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch). I feel so loved whenever someone buys me or makes me something, even if it is small. It means they were thinking about me. I suppose that is why I also love giving gifts. Since I feel so incredibly loved whenever I receive gifts, I want to do the same to others. Giving, in whatever capacity, brings me so much joy.
I was thinking about where this love for gifts came from, and I realized it comes from my Father. My Eternal Father. I am created in God's image, and God is love. God shows his children love in many ways, and I believe that includes gifts. Matthew 7:11 says, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" I am sinful and yet I know how to give good gifts, but don't you think God is the ultimate gift giver?
The thing about gifts is that it is all about the perfect time. Every time I buy or make something for someone, I long to give it to them right away. I want to see their reaction, but I know that waiting for the perfect time is so much sweeter, so I try to hold out for that time in hopes that it will make the gift that much better. I think God is much the same. He longs to give us good gifts, but He also longs to give it to us in His perfect timing! His timing is better than our own.
I also believe that God wants to give us the best. Matthew 7:9-10 says, "Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?" I almost always get the gift I really want (if it is possible) because my family/friends know that I am longing for it and it has been all I have been talking about and asking for, they do whatever they can to make my wish into a reality. God is like that too. He isn't going to hear our request and give us something that we don't need. If anything, He longs to give us more and better than we have requested, but sometimes, He will also say no. This no comes through love, and He has something better planned.
Knowing that God created me with a love for gifts, reminds me that we share that love and that He already gave me the best gift He could ever give, His perfect Son!! Why would I want or need anything more than Jesus' amazing gift of dying on the cross for me?! The truth is that I don't need anything else and God doesn't need to give me anything else. He gave the gift of all gifts, the PERFECT GIFT, through His Son. I am completely undeserving of any gift from the Creator of the Universe, but that is why God loves to give gifts because it shows His love and gives Himself glory!
Today I am remembering that I have the best gift in the world through salvation in Christ, but I also am reminded that God shares my love language and longs to continue showing me He loves me through the way I feel most loved.
