Gifts of God

God is love. The Bible is clear on that. One passage I’ve been reading is from one of John’s letters and the bit I’ve been looking at ends with the order to ‘keep yourself from idols’. It seems to jar. 

What do idols have to do with God being love, I wondered.

Following on from that, I considered how I can love life more than I love Jesus. Oh, not in my head but in the way I act and speak. But since life is a gift from God, can that be wrong?

Many idols start out as gifts. Life. Money. Jewellery. Children. Spouse. Talents. Maybe a car or a house. They start out as gifts but their importance in our lives can grow until they overshadow the giver. They become the focus rather than the love of either the person, or God, who gave us the gift. 

We live to worship God, not his gifts. They come our way out of the overflow of his heart, and so that we can share them with others. 

I’ve got a picture of worshippers, faces turned to heaven, arms reaching out, receiving gifts gratefully but allowing them to pile up around us in hills of blessing for others to receive, too. Our gaze is not distracted to the gifts but focused on the giver. 

For this, Lord, I need the essential gift of your Spirit, to help me maintain focus. Amen.