The Gift

Jesus imparted a gift to us, to you. The gift is Himself.

I am not sure how many of us actually believe that. I would say that for a lot of people they believe Jesus gave us some gifts to use, maybe one or two of the ones listed in the Bible.

Then we claim these gifts as “ours” and only want to operate in them. “I am a teacher, I do not do music.”

“I have the gift of administration, I cannot go talk to people on the street about Jesus”

“I have the gift of teaching so I will focus on that only, I am not a shepherd.”

Really? Jesus was only those things?

If Jesus gave each of us a gift or two and then held up a standard for being Holy, we are a sad bunch, because we could no more achieve holiness than fly. But we try!

Living a holy life is not imitating Jesus, but Oh, so many of us spend our energy trying. The holy life is letting the nature of Jesus, the qualities He possesses, not the qualities I have or think I have, rather it is letting all of Jesus, come out through my human flesh.

Christ in you… Colossians 1:27

Christ “in” us, not me trying.

It is not me trying to draw from Him and make it work, it is in surrendering myself, my will to Him.

It is impartation Not imitation.

Please read that last sentence again:

It is impartation not imitation.

He changes us from the inside out. Not you trying to change you. He is the one who can do the changing inside you.

Jesus waits for us to ask and then fills us with Himself. We do not get parts of Him. Maybe His toe! Or His hands! I think I got His thigh! That is silly talk. But if we are under the impression we only have access to “gifts” of God, or pieces of God, not God Himself, it is kind of believing those silly thoughts. You have limited Gods ability in your life.

Because of Jesus, all the emphasis is on Jesus and not on me. It takes the pressure off of me to be perfect. Yes there is a passage that says “be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

But you can no more be perfect than me and that is a not going to happen. So then what and how do we attain what Jesus is talking about?

So glad you asked!

The underlying problem with a lot of todays Christianianity is the emphasis on we believe we can and must do it. We can be perfect, we can follow all the Biblical standards and for heavens sake, so should you, as we point our finger at others. Well it is an impossible goal. So then why would Jesus have said, “be perfect?”

The Christian life is based upon your willingness to give up your will, not your obedience. In order to give up our will you must bow to something you believe is more powerful and important than you. It is actually much easier to do work for Jesus than to give up our will.

Human nature is such that we actually do not readily accept this. We may give lip service, we may walk a pretty good walk, but to give up our “will”, we tend to draw the line at certain things.

Inside ourselves we make little trade or deals with God and we do not even know we are doing them. For instance, if I go out to the mission field, God will have to bless me extra special. Or if I give that tithe or donation, God of course will notice and bless me.

As I said, a lot of the time we do not even know we are keeping score in our mind and heart.

• well if I go help the street people, then God will…

• if I go help my neighbor move, cause I hate that job, God will …

• surely God sees how I am helping these people so He will …

• I just donated a huge donation to that organization, God will surely….

  
  

  But God says:

  Abraham, go to the place, country, I will show you… so Abraham packed up and went to move not knowing where God was taking him. Genesis 12

  
  

  God says:

  Jonah go to these people, your enemies, and tell them about me…Book of Jonah 1

God says to the Samaritan, take care of your enemy when you find him beaten and left for dead on the road. God actually says this to us all. Love your enemies. Luke 10:25, Matthew 5:44

These last 3 were matters of the will, not knowing where I am going, only knowing who is asking. Ministering to people that are my enemy, people that have hurt people I know! To give medical aid and provide care out of my pocket, to a foreign person or possibly a person covered in tattoos. God could not possibly be asking for that level of my “will”?

And yet He is. He has all the skills, wisdom and ability to make changes in the world and in us, if we would let Him work through us. Not us trying to imitate Him. When God says be perfect, He is essentially saying, let me be perfect through you. I, Jesus, have given you My Spirit to use and be your guide. He will do it in you, your job is to say “okay.

Hard stuff here. Uncomfortable stuff here. Stuff we would rather not talk about or rarely want to do.

The time has come to take a good look at ourselves in our comfy Christian places and make a decision. Am I brave enough to acknowledge that God is worth bowing to 100% and ask Him what He would like me to do partnering with Him. Not me choosing where I would “like” to work with Him. Then me bowing low and asking and letting Him work through me, the giving up of myself to Him with a heartfelt “yes” and getting out of His way as He begins to work.

12 men changed the world because they said, “yes”. Imagine what God could do with your “yes.”