Gift: A Reclamation ~

Guest Post by Emily Gehman 

“This is for Christmas and your birthday.”

I’ve lost count of how many times that phrase has accompanied the neatly wrapped—in either Christmas or birthday paper—package handed to me. I don’t complain much, though, because when I do, my brother is quick to remind me it could be worse. His birthday is on Christmas Eve.
Nonetheless, the birthday-Christmas combo gift is the bane of December birthdays everywhere. Brethren (and sistren?), I feel your pain. 

Of course, we’re not the only ones thinking about gifts in December. The month has all of us in the buying mood and dreaming mode, tempted to pick up and shake those boxes under the tree. 

But I’m thinking of gifts differently this year. I’m wondering if the idea of a gift is platitude-ized. The idea and very word gift has become far too common to us; in our oft-entitled, consumer-crazed culture of Christmas we don’t spend more than a fleeting thought on it. It simply becomes another word in the cutesy Christmas platitudes.

“Jesus: the gift that keeps on forgiving!”

“The greatest gift wasn’t wrapped in shiny silver paper but in swaddling clothes.”

“The magic of Christmas is not in the presents, but in His presence.”

These clichés may reflect the truth of Christmas, but we hear them so often it’s easy to dismiss the depth of a true gift.

Back to the Basics 

When I google my brain—though sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t—for the “gift” file in the “Bible” drawer, I always come to the same verse: Ephesians 2:8-9. 

“For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

It was one of the very first verses I ever learned as a kid. And, thanks to AWANA, I’ve known it for years. But today, my birthday, that one word—gift—is sticking out to me. And I wondered what kind of gift it’s really talking about here. 

We have a few different ways to think about gifts. Of course, we have birthday gifts and Christmas gifts, which are already primed in your mind because it’s December. But we also use the word “gift” to describe a donation or otherwise semi-obligated monetary contribution. And we also use the word to refer to people having talents, as in “he’s so gifted,” or “you have a gift!”

But. This word gift in Ephesians 2:8-9 is specifically talking about a true, unadulterated, pure gift: something you bestow on someone else with nothing expected in return. In every New Testament occurrence of this word gift—dōron in the original Greek—it refers to something given in sacrifice, as an offering to God through the sacrificial system. It’s not talking about spiritual gifts or a particular ability (that’s a different word altogether). Dōron speaks of a specific thing, whether it be a money offering or a burnt offering, given to God in honor. 

Except for Ephesians 2:8-9. This verse reverses the direction of the gift-giving. It speaks not of a human giving gifts of sacrifice to God, but of God giving a gift to a human. 

God owes us no gifts—He is the one who deserves the gifts, the offerings, the sacrifices. But instead it is God who is giving the Gift. The Sacrifice. For us. For me. For you. 

Salvation. Jesus. Not just the Jesus in a manger, but the Jesus on a cross. The Jesus of the empty grave. 

“For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Salvation is not a Christmasy, platitude-ized gift, wrapped up in paper with a bow on top, but a gift we don’t do anything to get and on which we don’t make any payments. I can’t even brag about it—because I did nothing to deserve God’s gift of salvation. (Then it wouldn’t be a gift, but a reimbursement.) Much like on my birthday, I don’t do anything to receive birthday gifts; I can’t even brag about being born. I had very little to do with being born, actually. 

Salvation—the perfection of Jesus coming back to life after dying on a cross taking the punishment for my sin so I can be in Heaven—is a gift from God, says Ephesians 2:8-9. It’s not for a particular occasion, I cannot do anything to earn it, and He expects nothing in return. Heaven is open and it’s free, because God gives.

It is the gift of God. 

It’s a simple concept, but it’s far deeper than we can imagine or find on Pinterest or a cute Christmas card. 

So, December birthdays, take heart. And take your combo gifts as an opportunity to appreciate salvation, the gift of God—the God who is in no obligation to give anything for Christmas or birthdays. But He does anyways—Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and welcome to Heaven.