Gifts

Happy Sunday!

2 Corinthians 9:15 says, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."(KJV).  Today we celebrated my youngest grandson's 8th Birthday.  What a great gift he is to our family.  I also mentioned to my students in Children's Church today, that they are gifts to their parents from the Lord.  Psalm 127:3 says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."(KJV).  Another translation says, "Know this: children are a gift from the Eternal; the fruit of the womb is His reward."(Voice).

Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving!  Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us that he gives us mercy everyday, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."(KJV).   Exodus 23:25-26 tells us, "But you—you serve your God and he’ll bless your food and your water. I’ll get rid of the sickness among you; there won’t be any miscarriages nor barren women in your land. I’ll make sure you live full and complete lives."(Message).  Don't miss this!  God wants us to enjoy full and complete lives.  Full and Complete!

3 John 2 follows this same pattern, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers."(Amplified).  You are a gift from God, Jesus is a gift from God to us, and we should be gifts to the world.  2 Corinthians 2:14-16 says, "Thanks be to God who leads us, wherever we are, on his own triumphant way and makes our knowledge of him spread throughout the world like a lovely perfume! We Christians have the unmistakable “scent” of Christ, discernible alike to those who are being saved and to those who are heading for death. To the latter it seems like the very smell of doom, to the former it has the fresh fragrance of life itself."(Phillips).   Another translation of this passage says, "But thanks be to God! For through what Christ has done, he has triumphed over us so that now wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume."(Living Bible).

We should be like a sweet perfume in this dark world!  We should stand out for good things.  People should see our lives and come asking, "What must I do to be saved?"(Acts 16:30, KJV).

Love and prayers, Cynthia