how you give

i was reading this story from my web-browser and was struck by some of what was said.

Liz Pulliam Weston wrote the article, perhaps with some inspiration by Miss Manners, who she quotes as saying that gift certificates and gift cards are "a pathetic compromise convenient to people who do not trust their judgment about selecting the right present for those whose tastes they ought to know."

though i would have to disagree with both, because we recently received a lot of gift cards/certificates that were given in a most thougthful way. our church surprised us in October (pastor appreciation month) with several gift cards to a variety of restaurants AND a set of Baby-Sitting certificates. Both were given so that my wife and i could enjoy some dates together -- a gift that was thoughtful (they knew we would jump at the chance), sacrificial (they have to keep our three kids for several hours), and meaningful (essentially saying 'the health of your relationship matters to us and we want to encourage you both').

we've been using up our gift cards, and our baby-sitting -- and have been grateful for the thought and effort our church went to in this surprise appreciation. it's not just about the gift, but how the gift is given

back to the article...

what immediately struck me about and drew me into the article was the following initial statement:
"Holidays have rapidly devolved into what amounts to an exchange of cash. A gift card says nothing about the personality of the recipient -- but it says lots about the giver."

in the midst of all the craziness that has become the Christmas shopping season, the devolution of the Greatest Gift into the convenient gift, or at least the best bargain gift, may be the saddest commentary on our understanding and appreciation of this Holy Day of Christmas. it may also contribute to our decreasing effectiveness in communicating the significance of Christmas to our society

in this season of Christmas, i'm not against gifts, gift-giving, or even gift cards. my wife cannot tell me fast enough how much freedom i have in purchasing gifts for her and our family. i think about it for weeks heading into Thanksgiving and when i get the okay, i proceed to purchase as many of the things i can. then there's the problem of waiting and waitng and waiting until Christmas -- not to get my gifts, but for the joy of seeing them open theirs

if we go back to that first Christmas, the Greatest Gift given tells us a lot about the Greatest Giver -- love. "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son...Behold what manner of love the Father has lavished onto us that we should be called the sons of God." (John 3:16, 1 John 3:1). The Gospel equivalent to a gift card is a Gospel tract. i know that some people have benefited from a randomly placed gospel tract, but as a rule, it's not good evangelism because there's no relationship. God thoughtfully, sacrificially gave His Son, not a tract, that we might enter into relationship through love with Him

in our gift giving, we (as Christians) ought to model the heart and character of God so that our gifts will convey love. and just as God's greatest gift came as the Word made flesh -- let our gifts come with words of love, life, and truth to edify the receiver, and to spur them on to love and good deeds, as well

but most importantly, let us celebrate, highlight, and in every way possible make the love of God and the gift of His Son known to a watching, wondering, and otherwise clueless world.