Gifts of God

Gift cards make great stocking stuffers—just as long as you don’t stuff them in a drawer and forget about them after the holidays. Americans are expected to spend nearly $30 billion on gift cards this holiday season, according to the National Retail Federation. Restaurant gift cards are the most popular, making up one-third of those sales.

Most of those gift cards will be redeemed. Paytronix, which tracks restaurant gift card sales, says around 70% of gift cards are used within six months. But many cards—tens of billions of dollars’ worth—wind up forgotten or otherwise unused. That’s when the life of a gift card gets more complicated, with expiration dates or inactivity fees that can vary by state.

After clothing, gift cards will be the most popular present this holiday season. Nearly half of Americans plan to give them, according to the National Retail Federation. But many will remain unspent.

Gift cards get lost or forgotten, or recipients hang on to them for a special occasion. In a July survey, Bankrate found that 47% of U.S. adults had at least one unspent gift card or voucher. The average value of unused gift cards is $187 per person, a total of $23 billion.

While it may take gift cards years to expire, experts say it’s still wise to spend them quickly. Some cards—especially generic cash cards from Visa or MasterCard—will start accruing inactivity fees if they’re not used for a year, which eats away at their value. Inflation also makes cards less valuable over time. And if a retail store closes or goes bankrupt, a gift card could be worthless.

Possible Preaching Angle:

In the same way, the gifts of God (his promises, salvation, spiritual gifts, talents, the Bible) often remain unused, unopened by faith, and neglected by so many people.

Offensive line, Zack Conti, made it onto the Eastern Michigan University football team as a “walk-on,” meaning without a scholarship. Head Coach Chris Creighton told the team, “Zack Conti has had to pay his way to school for four years. And in the fall, the guy was selling his plasma to be able to pay the bills.”

Unfortunately, the team couldn't give out any more scholarships. Creighton explained to the players that the NCAA allows the team to provide 85 scholarships each year, and they've given them all out. Creighton asked for an 86th scholarship, but the answer was no.

"Then Brian Dooley came into my office," Creighton said. "And he says, 'Coach, that guy has earned it. And I've talked this over with my family. And if there's a way to make this happen, I am willing to give up my scholarship as a gift to Zack Conti.' I've never heard, I've never seen anything like that ever before." At that moment, Dooley walked over to Creighton and handed him an envelope that held his scholarship. The team broke out in cheers.

After the now-viral moment, Conti said he was "so honored and so thankful. It feels like all of my hard work is finally being rewarded.”

The senior paid his way through school by working at a landscaping service or at his dad’s hardwood flooring company, and donating plasma, which usually pays $50 to $100 a session.

He said, "Sometimes asking for help is not easy. The team would usually see me coming back from work or going to work and they would know what was going on, and they were supportive. They got my back."

Dooley said Conti earned the scholarship and explained his motivation for helping his teammate:

I did it because I've seen Conti grow over the years. Seeing him walk away from something that he loves did not sit well with me. He works hard and gets extra work with me all the time. In my eyes, he earned it 100%. Giving up my scholarship so he can stay and play means everything. I'm proud of what he has become and cannot wait to see what he does on the field.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The sacrificial love of Jesus is modeled for others when we show them the same radical love, acceptance, and generosity that God shows to us.

To excel in the National Basketball Association, as in any sports league, a player must be in excellent physical condition. But according to a profile by ESPN senior writer Baxter Holmes, what sets NBA champion Nikola Jokic apart from his peers is not his towering physique or his Serbian heritage, but rather, his dizzying intellect.

Ognjen Stojaković, player development coach for Jokic’s Denver Nuggets, says, “You're as fast as you can anticipate. He anticipates situations two and three steps ahead. People don't understand, before the situation happens, he can predict it."

According to tracking firm Second Spectrum, Jokic assisted on 468 layups and dunks--the most of any active NBA player. All-time NBA great LeBron James describes Jokic as mentally exceptional. James said, “He sees plays before they happen. Maybe it's not talked about, because a lot of people don't understand it, but I do. He's special.”

Branislav Vicentic coached Jokic as a teenager in Belgrade, Serbia. He said, “The first time I saw him. I just fell in love.” Despite his substandard conditioning, at first Jokic was unable to complete 10 sit-ups or pushups, Vicentic said that Jokic simply didn’t make any mistakes on the court. Having only coached him for that one year, Vicentic said he’d never seen anyone like Jokic, either before or since.

Vicentic said, “Listen, I don't want to take credit. Some [people] ask me, ‘Hey, you create Nikola Jokic?’ I don't know how to make Nikola Jokic. I was blessed to have him on my team. He's Beethoven. You give him a piano. He makes music.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Don't devalue the gifting and identity with which God has gifted you. Be yourself to the best of your ability, and don't worry about whether it matches the expectations of others.

Some people love them, some people hate them. Worse, a large number of us who receive them on special occasions are indifferent to them, or even forget about them entirely. Such is the sad fate of gift cards – millions of which go unused each year and have a collective value estimated to be in the billions of dollars.

Almost two-thirds of American consumers have at least one unspent gift card tucked away in a drawer, pocket, wallet, or purse. And at least half of those consumers lose a gift card before they use it, according to a new report from Credit Summit. The report said there is as much as $21 billion of unspent money tied up in unused and lost gift cards. Of those surveyed, a majority of respondents said their unredeemed cards were worth $200 or less.

Rebecca Stumpf, an editor with Credit Summit, said “Gift cards are extremely popular and almost everyone enjoys getting them. But many people leave them sitting in a drawer to redeem on a special occasion. Use them, don’t save them. If someone has given you a gift card, they want you to spend the money.”

So why aren’t we using up what people have taken the trouble to give us? According to Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst with CreditCards.com and Bankrate.com:

Inertia is a big factor. Sometimes the gift card is for a store that you don’t particularly like or it’s not convenient to go there. Still, ignoring the gift of free money is unwise. They’re not going to get more valuable over time; it’s the exact opposite, as inflation eats away at the value. And the longer you hold onto these unused gift cards, the more likely you are to lose them or forget about them or have the store go out of business.

Possible Preaching Angle:

In the same way, the gifts of God (salvation, spiritual gifts, talents, the Bible) often remain unused, unopened by faith, and neglected by so many people.

The pandemic has forced some locally owned businesses to close their doors. For one North Texas restaurant owner, he’s finding ways to overcome these challenges and continues to serve free meals to those who need them. Owner Ram Mehta says, “I get to meet a lot of amazing people. It’s all like a big extended family.”

Before customers order at the counter, they’re greeted with a sign on the door:

If you are Hungry, Homeless or Can’t afford a meal.

Please honor us by stopping by during business hours

for a couple of slices of Hot Pizza & Fountain Drink at No Charge.

If any employee here doesn’t treat you with same respect as a paying customer.

Please Call Ram directly at (number given). No questions no judgement.

Thank you for giving us an opportunity to serve you. God Bless You.

Ram says, “At one point in my life I was homeless, and my mom basically told me ‘Never forget where you came from.’” These are words he took to heart. So, he posted this sign to his restaurants' front doors as a reminder. It honors his mother, Lata Mehta who passed away three years ago.

This kind gesture called “Everyone Eatz” bloomed into a movement bigger than Ram ever imagined. He started holding events throughout Texas and has provided more than a half a million free meals and more. He says, “We started giving out cars to single moms, we started paying for rent for a few people, we started giving backpacks, toys for Christmas. So, it’s just about helping your neighbor.”

He hopes this example will inspire others to pay it forward. It’s already working. He says restaurants in Wisconsin and Florida have reached out asking to adopt the movement and help people in their communities.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Believers are to show the same love and care to those in need (1 Jn. 3:17-18; Heb 13:16). This reflects our greater mission of inviting people to “’Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev. 22:17).

Singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken shares insight of how an early morning flight changed her perspective on her problems:

One morning I boarded an early flight to Florida for a music gig. My mind scrolled through the usual anxieties, like old tapes on repeat. From a west-facing window I found myself ruminating over some troubling circumstances that were pending resolution.

It was dark as we ascended through heavy clouds. Most of the window shades were closed in the cabin. A little time passed, then someone on the left side of the plane opened their shade across the aisle from me. The morning sun shot a blaze of pink light across my face. The sunlight lifted my spirits.

I looked back to see the view out the west-side window. It remained predominately dark. I had been so wrapped up in my tiny scope of vision that I hadn’t realized the sun had crept over the horizon. While one side of the aircraft was glowing with light, the other was still in the shadows. Perspective has a way of shifting our experience.

On any given day, I could make a list of my anxieties, but the morning light shining on the east side of that airplane reminds me that I could just as easily make a list of the good gifts that God has given me. Sometimes I choose to look out the dark side of the plane, into the shadows, and I focus on what is broken or needs repair. This is essential to know and consider the reality of our world. But I can get stuck there.

But no matter which window I looked out, all the while I was strapped safely in the window seat of that airplane. And all the while the pilot continued to steer the plane toward our destination. In spite of our shifting perspectives, we have a destination. God has gone before us to lay out a good plan for our lives (Jer. 29:11, Isa. 30:21). Even as we keep ourselves on the trajectory that God has purposed for us, he holds us and guides us along the way.

Beauty and Sabbath go hand in hand. Both are extravagant. Unproductive. Unnecessary. Both are reflections of God's abundance and reminders that the world is chiefly a gift to receive, not a prize to be earned. Beauty doesn't have to exist. The fact that humans delight in sunsets, symphonies … and pecan pie cannot be explained by the Darwinian account of human existence.

The only explanation that makes sense of beauty is that we are created in the image of God who relishes it; a non-utilitarian God. Just look at the ten thousand species of birds in the world, or the four hundred thousand species of flowers; each unique in color, shape, and texture. Consider the diversity of spices—from cumin to cayenne to nutmeg and turmeric. God could have created the world so that humans only needed to have a bland, gruel-like substance in order to survive, but he didn't. He created thousands of edible plants and animals, from which millions of culinary combinations could be made. He created humans with taste buds to appreciate things like salted caramel gelato, buttermilk fried chicken, and lamb tagine. Just as he is a God who not only creates but pauses to enjoy what he has created (Gen. 1:31), so he created us with the capacity to enjoy. That's why beauty exists.

When we refuse to observe the Sabbath and don't allow space for the enjoyment of beauty, we implicitly signal a mentality that doubts the goodness of God. But when we do stop to rest, to feast, to "smell the roses," we display a contentedness and calm acceptance about the world and the One who holds it together.

Actor Charlie Hunnam has recently begun a transition to writing. About to turn 40, he had reached a place in life for some evaluation. Hunnam knew he would be out of work for a while due to COVID-19. And in his heart, there were stories that he had been carrying around. He shares, "They had been sort of given to me like gifts. And I wasn't honoring the gifts."

As he started the process of honoring these gifts, Hunnam found new energy. He started to get up around 4:00 am daily to go on a short hike. He would be back home, showered, and ate breakfast by 6:00 am. Then he would sit down to write until 7:00 pm. That's 13 hours! He explains the sensation this way:

I just started to get this really “now” feeling of life. Like there's nothing else in the world that would be better for me than what I'm doing right now. And the result of it was more positive than anything I've ever done in my career. ... And I've worked really, really hard to cultivate this gift and be proud of the work that I'm able to do now. But part of me feels like it's an uphill struggle.

But when I write, I feel as though I'm honoring the innate gifts that God gave me. I feel like I really can do this [stuff] at a high level. And that's a feeling that I've never had in my life before, in any regards. I feel like we all have one or two innate talents, and a task of life is to identify those and then do that as much as you possibly can. Because that's where the joy and the presence is going to come from. That's where the grace is going to come from.

It was a few days before Christmas, and Paul Goetchius looked like a dad picking up his daughter from college—greeting the smiling young woman outside the dorm, tossing her backpack into his SUV, and then easing out onto the snow-covered interstate.

The next day, he did the same thing at a different college—and he did it again the next day, and the next day, and the next. By the time the holiday arrived, he’d put more than 1,000 miles on his Chevy Tahoe, bringing kids home from college. They weren’t even his kids.

In the past eight years, Goetchius, 76, has logged over 64,000 miles driving low-income college students to and from universities all around New York state. The first student Goetchius drove to college was a young woman studying at the University at Buffalo. He had seen an article about a nonprofit that helps disadvantaged kids get to college. “I thought, ‘Well, heck, I can drive a car.’” Eight years later, he’s still at it, and that first rider is now a physician.

Sometimes the students need rides because their family doesn’t have a car. Sometimes the students have no home. “I’ve given rides to college to kids who were living at the homeless shelter or on a relative’s couch,” Goetchius says. “Some of these kids are incredible, what they overcome to get to college.”

Irby is a student Goetchius transported all four of her years. She said she’s not sure what she would have done without Goetchius’s rides or his humility. She said, “I always told him, ‘We never thanked you enough,’ and he was just like, ‘I don’t do it for thanks.’”

Possible Preaching Angles: 1) Benevolence; Help; Social Action – Christ calls us to help the less fortunate and by doing so we can show them the love of God; 2) Christmas; God, gifts of – God showed us his generosity and grace by freely giving when we were in great need.

Owen Williams and his wife befriended their elderly neighbor when they moved into their home three years ago. When their daughter, Cadi, came along two years ago, neighbor Ken Watson became a grandfather figure. Then Watson died in October.

A few days later Watson’s daughter stopped by the Williams home with a large bag. She was dropping off 14 wrapped Christmas presents her father had bought and wrapped for Cadi. Williams said, “I kept reaching into the bag and pulling out more presents. You could have knocked me over with a feather. It was quite something.”

Williams wrote: “My wife and I think it might make a nice Christmas tradition to give our daughter ‘a present from Ken’ for the next 14 years. The issue is, we really have to open them now. Nobody wants to give a fifteen-year-old Duplo!”

He posted on Twitter to spread some Christmas spirit. He also wrote that he wasn’t sure whether he should open them, check them out and then re-wrap them for Cadi. In that way she would have an age-appropriate one each year. To date, more than 67,000 people have weighed in about the gifts on Williams’ Twitter poll, many saying that Watson’s kindness brought them to tears.

Williams said the majority voted for a “lucky dip,” meaning not opening them ahead of time, just giving Cadi one mystery present a year. He said, “It will be a lovely way to remember Ken. We’ll do one a year for the next 14 years. If she opens a box of Legos when she’s 16 then so be it.”

He said he was struck by how many people have responded by saying their neighbors are virtual strangers to them. “The thing that stands out to me is how few people know their neighbors,” Williams said. “People are saying, ‘That’s so lovely. I don’t even know my neighbors.’ . . . This Christmas, take your neighbors … a small gift, a token. Just say, ‘Hi.’ You can open a new world like we did.”

Possible Preaching Angles: 1) Community; Gifts; Neighbor; Outreach – A simple gift to your neighbor can open opportunities for sharing the love of Christ; 2) Christmas; Experiencing God; God, gifts of – God gave us the universally perfect gift at Christmas.

On September 3, 1939, German troops invaded Bielsko, Poland. A fifteen­ year-old girl, Gerda Weissman, and her family survived in a Jewish ghetto until June of 1942. That's when Gerda was torn from her mother, kicking and screaming. Her mother, Helene, was sent to a death camp. Gerda would spend three years in a Nazi concentration camp, followed by a 350-mile death march that she somehow survived. By the time she was liberated by American troops, Gerda was a sixty-eight-pound skeleton. And in what must rank as one of the most improbable love stories ever, Gerda actually married the soldier who found her, Lieutenant Kurt Klein.

There are six glass towers at the Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, representing the six extermination camps where six million Jews lost their lives. Five towers tell the story of unconscionable cruelty and unimaginable suffering, but the sixth tower stands as a testimony to hope. Inscribed on it is a short story titled "One Raspberry," written by Gerda Weissman Klein.

Ilse, a childhood friend of mine, once found a raspberry in the camp and carried it in her pocket all day to present to me that night on a leaf. Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry and you gave it to your friend.

The true measure of a gift is what you gave up to give it. One raspberry isn't much unless it's all you have! Then it's not next to nothing; it's everything. The same is true of two billion dollars or two mites. Big dreams often start with small acts of kindness. It's powerful when we're on the receiving end, but it's even more wonderful when we're on the giving end.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Sacrifice; Gift; Thanksgiving – When we had nothing, God gave us the ultimate priceless gift when he gave us his son (2 Corinthians 9:15).

The beaches of the small island of Langeoog experienced a surprise—thousands of colored plastic eggs. Photos of the beach show the eggs scattered on the sand, with more riding in on the approaching waves. Local children were allowed to go investigate the eggs, which were found to have toys inside, "much to [the children's] delight."

But where did these mysterious eggs come from? Local police forces "suspect the eggs came from a freighter that lost part of its cargo during an intense storm." Not everything about this surprise from the sea proved to be fun and games, however. Uwe Garrels, the local mayor, said, "At first I thought this was a wonder, because everything was so colorful and so on, but then we realized that this is a huge mess in the end."

Another addition to the "mess"? The notes tucked inside the toys, which had so excited the children, were in Russian.

Potential Preaching Angles: (1) Gifts from God; God, goodness of—Unlike the mixed blessing of the eggs, we know that our good God only gives "good and perfect" gifts (James 1:17). (2) Sin, power of; Temptation—The things that sparkle with delight and promise, may lead us into more messes than we ever imagined.

His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. The English word new is the Hebrew word hadas … It means never before experienced. Today's mercy is different from yesterday or the day before or the day before the day before. Just as the seasonal flu vaccine changes from year to year, God's mercy changes from day to day. It's a new strain of mercy. Why? Because you didn't sin today the way you did yesterday!

Try this little exercise: Figure out how old you are—not in years but in days. That's the sum total of different kinds of mercy you've received life-to-date. By the time you're twenty-one, you've experienced 7,665 unique mercies. When you hit midlife, it numbers 14,600. And by the time you hit retirement, God has mercied you 23,725 times.

A poll taken by the British Nutrition Foundation questioned 27,500 children and youth aged five to sixteen about the origins of food. According to a summary of the survey in a BBC article, almost a third of UK primary pupils think cheese is made from plants and a quarter think fish fingers come from chicken or pigs, suggests a survey. Nearly one in 10 secondary pupils thinks tomatoes grow underground.

The survey also revealed confusion about the source of staples such as pasta and bread among younger pupils, with about a third of five-to-eight-year-olds believing that they are made from meat. About 19 percent of this age group did not realize that potatoes grew underground, with 10% thinking they grew on bushes or trees.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) God, creator; Thanksgiving—It's even more tragic when children (and adults) don't understand the ultimate source of food. (2) Farming; Agriculture—This illustration also sets up Jesus' parables involving agriculture—we don't live in an agricultural society so we'll have to imagine what it was like in the world of Scripture.

Bryan Chapell tells a story about learning to use a crosscut saw with his father. As Bryan and his father were sawing through a log that had a rotten core, a piece of wood sheared off that looked just like a horse's head. So Bryan took it home and then later on gave it to his dad as a present. Chapell continues:

I attached a length of two-by-four board to that log head, attached a rope tail, and stuck on some sticks to act as legs. Then I halfway hammered in a dozen or so nails down the two-by-four body of that "horse," wrapped the whole thing in butcher block paper, put a bow on it, and presented it to my father. When he took off the wrapping, he smiled and said, "Thank you, it's wonderful … what is it?"

"It's a tie rack, Dad," I said. "See, you can put your ties on those nails going clown the side of the horse's body." My father smiled again and thanked me. Then he leaned the horse against his closet wall (because the stick legs could not keep it standing upright), and for years he used it as a tie rack.

Now, when I first gave my father that rotten-log-horse-head tie rack, I really thought it was "good." In my childish mind this creation was a work of art ready for the Metropolitan Museum. But as I matured, I realized that my work was not nearly as good as I had once thought. In fact, I understood ultimately that my father had received and used my gift not because of its goodness but out of his goodness. In a similar way our heavenly Father receives our gifts not so much because they deserve his love, but because he is love.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Christmas—This is a great way to illustrate the idea that Christmas is about God's gift to us, not our "gift" (i.e. religious efforts, performance, good deeds) to God; (2) God, grace of—The gospel is about trusting in God's gift to us in and through Christ, not offering our imperfect gifts to God.

"The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank. The converse of this proposition is also true … . The great saint may be said to mix all his thoughts with thanks. All goods look better when they look like gifts … . It is the highest and holiest of the paradoxes that the man who really knows he cannot pay his debt will be forever paying it … . He will be always throwing things away into a bottomless pit of unfathomable thanks."

Travel back 200 years in Christian history to John Newton, the slave-trader-turned-pastor and hymn writer. He would receive almost unbelievable answers to his prayers because he believed in what he called "large asking." When explaining what he meant, Newton would often cite a legendary story of a man who asked Alexander the Great to give him a huge sum of money in exchange for his daughter's hand in marriage. Alexander agreed, and told the man to request of Alexander's treasurer whatever he wanted. So, the father of the bride went and asked for an enormous amount. The treasurer was startled and said he could not give out that kind of money without a direct order. Going to Alexander, the treasurer argued that even a small fraction of the money requested would more than serve the purpose.

"No," replied Alexander, "let him have it all. I like that fellow. He does me honor. He treats me like a king and proves by what he asks that he believes me to be both rich and generous."

Newton concluded: "In the same way, we should go to the throne of God's grace and present petitions that express honorable views of the love, riches, and bounty of our King."

God ... does not lavish his children with a jolly discipleship so that they may swim in spiritual ecstasy between conversion and death. God is a giver, but he does not give happiness. He gives redemption, meaning, security, love, victory, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And happiness is our response to his gifts.