The Gift of God

I was reading this morning in the Gospel of John and this verse caught my eye.

Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

"If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is..."

My New Living Translation says it this way, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am..."

According to Strong's concordance and Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of N.T. Words the word "gift" is the greek word "dorea" which "denotes a free gift, stressing its gratuitous character."

If you only knew (see, perceive, recognize) the gratuitously free gift of God and who I am...

So, what is the gift of God?

Is it salvation?

Yes and No.

The gift of God is a person. Jesus is the gift.

He is Living Water. He is the Bread of Life. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the Wisdom of God.

He said, "Lady, if you only knew the gift of God and that it is standing right in front of you, you would ask me and never be thirsty"

Sometimes, we trivialize the gift in our churches by saying it's just being saved from hell, like it's just a ticket to heaven or something. The gift is so much more than just avoiding hell.

It's Christ in us, the hope of glory.

The gift is "all things pertaining to life and godliness"

In Christ, God gave us All good gifts, and "all" means ALL!

We have everything we need in HIM.

Know Him. Know the gift.

Spurgeon on Wisdom

"Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom." -Charles Spurgeon

Gratitude

Gratitude. The state of being grateful which is being appreciative of benefits received. We have certainly received benefits. We take so many for granted.

Think about Hurricane Sandy and the value of the electric company to those without power in the last couple weeks. We need electricity for so many things...lights, refrigeration, heat, tv, internet, charging cell phones, etc. Yet, people complain all the time about the power bill. I've done it. I'm not saying you can't wish it were lower, but we should be grateful to get so much in exchange for so little. Think about all the benefits you receive from electricity. It's really a great trade.

There's a saying, "you don't know what you've got til it's gone." Those people on the east coast are learning that lesson.

We have to change our thinking, shift our focus. We need more gratitude in our lives, our families, our churches and our society. In fact, scripture tells us that we no longer have to wonder "what is God's will for my life?", but rather, we fulfill God's will with gratitude.

(1Th 5:18) In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

One of my favorite Lewis quotes

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." --C. S. Lewis

Oh Lord I feel so barren and ashamed of who I am
How I often fell
I hid it well
A lie I cannot defend
So I lean upon Your mercy
As I confess my sin to You
It is no easy way
No saving face
When you finally see the truth
Let my life be filled with only You


I know someday I will be free
The weight of sin shall be released
But for now He covers me
And though the trials never end
I learn to take them as my friend
For each day He covers me


Sometimes the pressure builds around me
And I feel about to break
I suffer patiently from wrongs done to me
But vengeance isn't mine to take
Let me glory in my weakness
Until Your strength's revealed in me
It is Your grace alone that helps me carry on
To be the man I long to be
Let Your life be perfected in me
(You're the Light) Until it's You they see


And though heartache surrounds me
I know Your love is around me
Nothing can separate me from You
Oh Lord I know it's true

The reason Creflo thinks about shooting people if they don't pay tithe is because that's his cash cow.  That's how he makes money.  He believes he's entitled to 10 percent of your income and it pisses him off when he can't take it from you. 

Musings on tithe and Deuteronomy 14

When you begin to study what the bible has to say on the subject of tithe, you'll find some pretty interesting information.  Of course, that's the problem isn't it?  Most people are unwilling to study the bible or anything else for that matter.  We don't want to invest the time to find the truth.  It's not that important to us.  Instead, we take the word of the paid clergy (no conflict of interest there) on what the bible has to say about our money.  We're suckers.  We take advice from men and women that are at best sincerely incompetent and at worst devious hucksters. 

Let me get back to what I was saying about tithe.  I challenge you to read Deuteronomy chapter 14, paying special attention to verse 22 and beyond which deals with the tithe, and you'll find some curious instructions.  Here's verse 26 :

(KJV)  "And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,"

So, you've converted your tithe to money for traveling according to the earlier verses, and when you get there you can buy whatever YOU want with the money, even wine and beer.  What???  Read it.  It says "whatsoever thy soul desireth".  It says to eat the food you've purchased with that money.  You eat it.

I know.  I know.  This will mess with your theology.

Don't take my word for it.  Study to show your self approved.  As you do, I believe you'll see the absurdity of placing these things on Christians.

And I'm not encouraging drunkenness or any craziness, but this is the problem with those teaching tithe to new testament christians.  They're teaching religious law and they're teaching it incomplete.  That doesn't work.  If you're righteousness is by the law, then you'd better keep it all.  Christians are in Christ.  He is their righteousness.  They don't keep these religious laws.  If they want to give or they feel led to give, they give.  Period.  No quotas, no percentages.  Just freedom.