Seek The Giver

Date: 12 May 2014     /     By Natalia Wijaya     /     Type: Articles;

There are two ladies who have a small house and live next to each other. They aren’t wealthy, they even cannot afford to have electricity in their home. One day, to their amaze, a letter arrives to inform there will be free electricity provided to their house started on 6 pm that evening. Just at that very hour, both of them try to switch on the lamp in their living room, and it works! So does in other rooms including bathroom. The electricity is working well for the next day and also for the following weeks and months.

The first lady really rejoices the reality that she no longer needs a candle to light up her night. She doesn’t know who would be so kind enough to provide free electricity for her home. She thanked whoever he is in her heart, continues to enjoy her life and starts to invite friends to come over her place having dinner parties.

The second lady also rejoices the reality that not only she no longer lives in darkness or in dimmed light by the candle, she also does not have any obligation to pay for the electricity, it’s free! Same as the first lady, she feels very grateful for the secret philanthropist, but she doesn’t stop with a mere thanksgiving heart. There is an inner desire in her heart to find out who the man really is, someone who is so thoughtful to not only arrange the electricity installation but to also pay for the service on behalf of her household.

So there she goes, asking one by one of her friends in her neighborhood if anyone of them might have ideas of the true identity of the kind giver. Apparently all villagers who have got electricity in their house had it by the same happening as hers! Now this man must be extremely wealthy and generous if he cared enough to dispose free electricity for this entire small village! Yet not all of them - in fact only few- who care enough to find out the identity of this man. Within those few only some have finally met the man in person. The rest gave up on the way to the man’s house because apparently the road that leads to the man’s house is very narrow and it’s not an easy-track. The road is rocky and seems very long to the way end.

Also, there seems another man who claims the right to accept the gratitude. He claims to be the giver and he lives in a visible large mansion with wide road leads to his garage full of cars. Yet people who have met the real philanthropist can testify that this man’s claim is false.

After giving out the above illustration, next scene I will give you three options concerning the following question, “What would you choose to do if you were the second lady”?

Option 1: Leave out your desire in seeking the giver because the road leads to his house seems too narrow and difficult

Option 2: Give yourselves a chance to follow the much wider road leads to the other man’s house, not really assured whether he’s the right man and ignore other people’s testimonies

Option 3: Abandon all at once your ‘adventure’ in finding the giver. Instead, you go back to your house and enjoy the free electricity you have. After all it’s free.

The catch is, what you choose will reflect the way you respond for each blessing you received from God the Father!
God gives us blessings (they are not merely in material but also in spiritual such as joy and peace in our life) freely, just like what the secret philanthropist did to the entire village! He blesses us not when we are behaving well and then takes it away when we sin. He blesses us every time and everyday; He blesses us not because we are good, but because He is good! The problem is, not every people will have desire to find the Giver when they are blessed with the gift. They instead enjoy the gift too much and seem to forget from where the blessing comes. Like the first lady who has forgotten how dark her life was before light came into her home, we sometimes also forget how God’s blessings has made our life so blissful on this fallen earth. The gift of breathing, walking, talking, laughing - the gift of life! We think ‘that’s how it supposed to be, right?’ and live being indifference toward those gifts and sadly, toward the Giver too. But how about if one day we woke up in the morning and all of the above gifts gone? Would you rather start to give thanks to the Giver, our God in Heaven, for the blessings only when they have gone and you need it back desperately? I don’t think so. Don’t wait until the free electricity’s gone. Seek the Giver and pour out your deepest gratitude unto Him alone right at the moment!
In other situation people may worship the wrong giver. They treat other person or even themselves as the source of the gifts! They think they earn it, not knowing that it can only be done by God’s grace and by God’s favor. The road does look easier, but it will only lead to life’s vanity. Don’t waste time following the wrong road! Don’t take lightly people’s testimony of the true Giver. God’s desire even better, He wants you to experience the goodness of His heart by yourselves rather than merely listening to other people’s testimony!

Furthermore, how about God’s greatest gift in giving His only Son, Jesus Christ, as Redeemer to our sins? The gift of salvation and eternal life go beyond the gift of life itself! Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, “What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Or what can you give in exchange of your soul?” It is ironic to receive God’s gift (especially material) but on the other hand rejecting His greatest gift, Jesus Christ. And it is very sad to enjoy God’s blessings but not delighting in Whom the blessings come from!

We all need a changed perspective in our life that will enable us to see GRACE as the greatest gift we ever receive from God and I believe only by His Holy Spirit’s works we can see what He sees and appreciate what He appreciates. When we realize how our abundant sins and shortcomings are covered freely by God’s grace demonstrated through Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, when we realize wholly the effect of our sins to our eternal life if they went unredeemed (eternal separation from God - hell), there we will see the true value of God’s gift called grace. Not a mere beautiful name easy to come out from our mouth or used in thousands of religious songs, but more than ever we will long to experience the grace! Grace came as a person and His name is Jesus Christ (“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” – John 1:17). If grace is a Person then we can experience Him by having personal relationship with Him. Even our ability to experience Him is also by grace!

Why would a wealthy man be bothered to provide free electricity so the villagers can experience light? Because he is an extremely generous and kind man. Why would he be so compassionate to provide free electricity to the villagers who have once robbed and killed his son when he first visited the village ten years ago? Only by his grace! The same grace that God has demonstrated to us when He let His only Son died on the cross! We have robbed and killed Jesus by our sins (“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” – 2 Corinthians 5:21). We are the one who should be on that cross bearing our own sins, failures, mistakes, and sickness. Yet by God’s grace, He let Jesus be in our place so we can enjoy our new life in Him - Hallelujah!

The Word of God declares that if you know the truth, the truth will set you free (John 8:32). Well, grace is the truth that will set you free, not our own good deeds! The personal encounter with the Giver of every good gift in our life will definitely set us free! So, what are you waiting for? Start giving thanks for the gift of life (for every activity you can do, for every relationship you have, for every material blessing you can utilize) but most importantly, start giving thanks for the Giver Himself! Giving thanks for He has shown His grace through His Son Jesus so we may have eternal life with Him forever at the end of our days.

And when you say that the Christian life is very difficult just as you have to go through a narrow road to get to the secret philanthropist’s house, let me quote what Joseph Prince wrote in his book “Destined to Reign” – “My friend, it is not difficult, it is impossible! The only one who can live it is Jesus Himself, and He wants to do it in us today. That is why it is not up to our effort to fulfill the law (God’s commandment). It was fulfilled on our behalf and the price for our sins has been paid on the cross”

Praise God for the greatest gift He ever bestows to us – His grace, His own Son, Jesus Christ!