Love gives the greater gift.
It’s Christmas and of the myriad of reflections we could make on a day like today about the nature of love, I’m choosing just one.
Love gives the greater gift.
Love does not offer us a choice about whether we give to those we love. If you have ever truly loved or been loved you know that giving is not a optional nicety. We are compelled to find external ways to express our inward understanding. Our time, our energy, our gifts, all given toward this end.
This desire to have our feelings expressed and understood and to see good things come into the world of the people that we love is an earthly insight (albeit a dim reflection) into our Heavenly Father and His intent toward us. Yet there is a deep difference between what I would call a common gift (not a denigration, purely a way to identify it) and the gretaer gift.
God’s first gift to us, happened prior to our existence, it was the unfolding of creation. The common gift responds, the greater gift looks ahead to what will be and gives toward it in expectation.
The greater gift gives life. When at the pinnacle of creation God calls us into being, we understand that love’s intention is to give the gift that brings and fosters life. Given that we are not God this is clearly metaphorical in its application for us but the question remains, when we give, are we giving toward their expanded life, or are we giving toward us.
The common gift gives toward the want, the greater gift gives to the need. In many cases there is no harm in giving a person the thing that they wish for. But if you have children you will be aware that there are times when what a child desires is not primarily beneficial to their world. You will also be aware that there are moments where what they want and what they actually need are two vastly different (and at times diametrically opposed) notions. The Lord God sends His only beloved Son to earth not because of our want but because of need. You only need to reflect on our treatment of him to know that he was not at all what a lot of humanity desired. But he was the very thing we needed most. Thus the greater gift requires discernment, at times bravery, and always a heart filled with the best intention for the ones we are given to love.
Not only does the the greater gift see for the other what they cannot see for themselves but it does for the other what the other cannot possibly do for themselves. When Christ comes to earth it is not to free us from sin that we might otherwise have freed ourselves from. It is to do that which we cannot possibly do. Even if we had recognized it we were in no position to address it. But the one who could, did. That is love and the greater gift.
Lastly and most challengingly, the greater gift sacrifices to achieve beyond what we have within reach. The common gift comes only from what we have. Before Christ takes a single step toward the cross he has sacrificed beyond what we as humans can ever comprehend. He lays his divinity at our feet and becomes flesh. A baby, fragile, human. Subject to all the temptations and ways of this world in order to do what must be done. Without him we are lost. The greater gift sacrifices.
Let us remember, church, particularly at this time of year, and always, that we are called in reflection of Christ to love a love that gives the greater gift. It is a call, an inspiration, a challenge to reflect on the way of our giving toward those that he has called us to.
Merry Christmas church, the greatest gift, is given to us. Christ has come among us.
All my love
Stephen Hickson