God Gives the Greatest Gifts
“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29).
When we are young, we are quick to want back the things that we give. A young person wants his friend to like him, and so he gives him a gift of great value. The friend receives it cheerfully and makes it out to be the greatest thing that he has ever received. The youth then believes he has made a mistake in giving something of such great value and says, “Give it back! I didn’t mean to give it to you. I just wanted you to like me.” Does he want the friend or the item? The answer is, he wants both, but he has placed himself in a situation where he can’t have both because he gave in a grudging way. His conflicting desires create instability in his relationships.
Adults can do the same things in more complicated ways. We give, but then hold a grudge against the one receiving the gift because he didn’t respond like we expected. Perhaps we will expect something in return of equal or greater value. Maybe we hold out on all future giving, or while he is not looking, we take something from him thinking that we are justified in doing so because of the value of the gift we gave. These situations have one thing in common: we are still holding onto the gift that we gave, and we can’t truly give until we let go of the gift that is given.
God’s giving is so much greater than ours. He gives and doesn’t repent. Let’s give like God gives, “not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:8).