GOD’S GIFTS OF LOVE

GOD’S GIFTS OF LOVE

Charles E. Branthoover

I’ve often heard that, “God loves to give; God loves to shower us with blessings.” I’ve heard sermons preached on it more than once. But I’ve never truly understood what it means; never truly understood the powerful truth and witness to it until just recently.

First let me say that the concept of “God giving” falls into a realm of doubt and misunderstanding when you are short on cash; have ill health; a forlorn love life; or any myriad of other woes for which you have prayed to Him and seemingly receive no help; no respite. We are quick to question—why doesn’t God help me now? Where are His blessings when I need them most?

Our biggest fault perhaps is in our “human” concept of “giving’; our societal “habits” or conditioning to “give” on special occasions—i.e. at holidays, birthdays, and any number of other ‘set aside” days when gifts are expected of us. Yet, our biggest joy of giving comes at those “special times” not tied to the ritual times; when we give for no reason than the joy that we want to bless another. Have you ever in your life given a thoughtful gift to someone you love—just because you wanted to bless them? Have you ever bought your wife flowers “for no reason”; bought your husband a little “gift” just because you felt like it? You surely did it out of love and not out of obligation. Surely then God, in His omnipotent love is capable of the same. Yet in this thought process—remember the time, perhaps when you gave that spontaneous gift out of pure love and friendship and it was refused or accepted with less than joy? More than likely you would not honor that person again the same way. Is God any less likely to do it again?

Let me relate two stories—almost identical in the beginning but with total different endings. I assure you these stories are true, for they both involved us—the one through a friend, the other directly.The first began when the Father spoke to me to contact a dear friend and tell her (and these were the Father’s words), “to ask ME for a special gift that she has wanted but doesn’t have the money to buy right now.” I was obedient and passed the message on immediately. To my surprise my friend was almost childlike in her response and blurted out…”a new purse.” I assured her the gift would be there. The very next day she received a check in the mail unexpectedly that would be exactly what she needed to buy a new purse—a true gift from the Father’s heart. My heart was broken by her reaction to it however, for practicality set in overnight and she decided to “get a new haircut” instead.” I sensed the Father’s hurt and yes—even anger—that she “refused” the purity of His gift to her and instead opted for a gift of vanity. The truth is—the purse would always have been a reminder of the gift, but the hair grew back in a short time.

Story number two involved my wife and me. Maxine had been working at Wal-Mart for over 14 years and shortly after the above incident I received a call from her one day. She asked me what gift I would like—anything I wanted. This was unusual because we had little money; had bills due; and were struggling like any other normal family to make ends meet from month to month. When I questioned her about her “generosity”, she explained that her name had been drawn “out of the hat” to receive a pool of money that was set aside by Wal-Mart (one dollar for each accident-free day at her store) and it totaled $240.00 I told her I would pray on it and call her back. While I prayed, the Father spoke clearly to me and said this was a pure gift from His heart for her faithfulness and was to be used purely for “those things we couldn’t afford.” I can assure you, the temptation was to buy things we needed—but I understood the pureness of the Father’s gift and relayed the message to Maxine. She used the total $240.00 to buy things we would not have bought normally; an new rocker for her; an entertainment center; and some other special items.

I can say from my heart we will never forget His gifts, for each time she sits in “her” chair, she is surrounded by His love. Each gift reminds us daily of His pure love for us. Yet the story does not end there. You see, in learning to receive, the gifts have been unending. Our VCR quit working—we received a “free” one at a yard sale that works fine. We purchased a $469.00 patio furniture set at a yard sale for $30.00 and it is a blessing. I needed a hand saw to do some repairs around the house; I found two at yard sales—one was 25 cents and the other 50 cents. Just yesterday while driving home from the store, we passed a set of steps—platform and railing—that had been used in an RV campground on a motor home. It fit perfectly at the bottom or our outside stairs and alleviated a hazardous “landing” at the bottom, where I had already fallen violently just a month or so ago; the price—free. There are many more stories I could relate.

The moral of this story—God loves to give from His bountiful supply. We need to learn to receive from a loving Father—receive with a pure heart the gifts that are given in purest love, and His storehouse will never run dry. You see, God will freely give to those who receive freely and who realize that He receives much joy in giving and even more joy in our understanding the reason for His gift.

We are often taught in scripture and sermon of the Father’s willingness to take care of our needs. But we limit Him so much when we reject His desire to give so much more. Oh, our Father in heaven is such a loving, caring God, and it is we who are selfish in not letting Him show us how much He truly loves us.
The true lesson here is that when we “expect” Him to help us, we are taking for granted His love. But when we truly learn to receive with joy the unexpected, then and only then, will He open the storehouse of heaven to us.
Amen and Amen