The Best Gift Ever

This month I am preaching a series called "The Gift". Shocking and original sermon title for the month of December I know, but it has been something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. Here's why. I pretty much love this book that I'm reading, "The Pressure's Off" by Larry Crabb. It has challenged me entirely in my view of God and how I treat my relationship with Him. Am I really searching after Him (Which Larry suggests is The New Way of Living), or am I searching after His blessing (The Old Way of Living)? Larry says "We approach Him (God) the way a child approaches a weary Santa Claus in the mall, who for the hundredth time asks, "What do you want for Christmas?" I wager no child has ever pressed close to Santa's chest, looked up into his eyes and said, "You! I want only you." No Child believes having Santa join him for dinner could bring more joy than watching Santa stack presents beneath the tree." To me that is such a piercing thought. Do I really, from the bottom of my heart, desire Him and only Him, no matter what type of blessed or desperate state my life is in? I don't think that I can say that at all. When things are good, I forget His presence, and when things are bad, I just want Him to fix the things that are broken. Looking back, I can see that some of the most difficult things that I have gone through have made it possible to experience the presence of God in my life that I had never encountered before. It wasn't that He made the way out easier, but I knew that He was there. It was His presence that made the difference in the situation. I came face to face with Him.

He is The Gift, not His blessing. It's Him.

"Perhaps the greatest mistake in the modern church is its unrecognized tendency to encourage Old Way living. Books, sermons, and seminars present an appealing blessing, then tell us how to get it. "God longs to bless you," we hear. "Live in such a way that His blessings are released into your lives." We're living under deception. The supreme blessing He longs to give us is Himself. No other blessing is guaranteed until heaven. The blessings we now claim are so often something less than an empowering, enlivening, pride-destroying, self-effacing, joy-giving encounter with God." - Larry Crabb "The Pressure's Off"