As we close the week of discussing the gifts of God, We should camp for a moment upon the three that remain. As a grandfather of 3, a father of four, a husband of one, and a friend of many; I have given and received many gifts in my day. I have t-shirts and logo shirts that fill my closet dating back to the nineties. My cold weather coat remains my Harley Davidson jacket that I received from a dear friend that designed the Harley Davidson clothing line.
Still, the most resonant gifts that I have received in my life do not hold that place because of their shape or their value. They have remained special because they came from someone who truly loved me. Whether a painted rock, a lovely book, or a watch the value of the gift is encompassed in the value of its giver.
Faith, Hope and Love remain as our three greatest gifts from God. They are life shaping, life affirming, and life changing. Still, they supersede the gifts of prophecy, teaching, encouragement, etc., not because they are of a different form or intrinsic value. Instead, they remain because they are the very essence of the God who gives them.
Our very existence in this chaotic fallen world is greatly due to the faith we place in our Heavenly Father. The hope we cling to is due in large part to the historical record of God’s hand in our lives and the lives of all His chosen. Still, the single most foundational gift we have is the Love of the Father that created us, died for us, resurrected for us and leads us through the journey.
It is the love of God that is printed in our DNA. It causes us to completely sacrifice for our family. It causes us to help the stranded stranger, hand money to the homeless. All other gifts are still important, but they do not hold any place close to the remaining gift. This week, as we move closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas, we need to focus on the gifts that remain, and upon the Father that loves us and gave them to us for now and for eternity.
God Bless You
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Walking With God 