Articles
Good Gifts for the Father
We are in a gift-giving mood this time of the year. It is expected that the average person will spend somewhere around $830 on gifts this year. Wrapping paper alone is an almost three billion dollar industry this time of year. That is a lot of gift buying and wrapping!
How much or our resources and effort do we pour into giving gifts to our Father in Heaven? The Bible is clear that our worship to God is our way of giving Him a gift. Consider this verse in Hebrews: “Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name” (Hebrews 13.15). Here it is called a sacrifice of praise, but a sacrifice was a gift you would lay on the altar to give to God. In the Old Testament, this gift might consist of grains or an animal. In the New Testament, we offer ourselves to His service and our praise to God, otherwise known as our worship.
So let’s get practical—how much are you spending on giving gifts to God?
- Do you prepare for worship on Saturday, gathering Bibles and lesson books, ironing clothes, prepping breakfast, so you might be in a right mind for the Lord’s Day?
- Do you wake up early on Sundays so you might have a peaceful, reflective, and God-focused morning as you prepare your mind for worship?
- Do you leave early from the house so you might not be rushing around, throwing children in the car, rushing in at the last second (or even minutes late), too frazzled to worship?
- Do you make time for greeting your brethren with whom you will be worshipping, sharing testimonies of God’s faithfulness and praise for God’s blessings?
- Do you arrive with enough time to refocus your mind on God?
- Do you overview the list of those needing prayers so that you might pray heartfelt petitions to God for their well-being and benefit?
- Do you prepare your contribution ahead of time, pick out scriptures or thoughts to focus on during the Lord’s Supper, or have your Bible ready so that the lesson might challenge you and cause you to grow?
While none of these questions are necessary steps for worship, they are helpful suggestions for giving more heartfelt praise to God as a gift. If we are willing to spend countless hours researching gifts for children and spouses, stress about finding the perfect item, and wrap them so beautifully, shouldn’t we work more purposefully in our offerings to God? God is worthy of our best gifts and greatest praise.
