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REFLECTION

Gift or giver is the theme for our reflection. A gift is a thing given willingly to someone without payment and a giver is a person who who gives a gift. Paul draws the attention of the Corinthian Christians to the fact that God is not to be taken for granted because He is faithful and continues to bless His people with their needs. He gives an example of the Israelites in the wilderness who died as a result of receiving the gifts of God but indulged themselves in idol worship and suffered the consequences thereof. Thus, now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:6-12). In other words, Paul admonished the Christians in the Church of Corinth that the gift of God must not take the attention of the Giver (God). This was about the Corinthian Christian’s involvement in partaking in meat or meals sacrificed to idols. Meat or food is a gift from God, the gift must rather give us an assurance that the giver is our provider hence we must totally worship and love Him “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) We are reminded in James 1:16-17 that “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Dear friend, let us not fall into the temptation of focusing our attention on the gift of God more than the Giver of the gift who is God Himself. I dare say that sometimes our way of worshipping God suggests that we only become serious in prayer and church activities because we need the gift of marriage, employment, contract, spiritual protection, healing, seed of the womb and other necessities of life from God, but immediately we receive these gifts from Him the gifts become the very reason for which we no longer dedicate our lives to God. Some of us practically worship our gifts more than the Giver. We turn to give myriads of excuses for no longer dedicating our bodies, time and resources to the service of God, meanwhile, when we were in need of these gifts or blessings in the past, our disposition or character towards Him was different. Many will attend all-night services, crusades, revivals, 21 and 40 days fasting and prayer programmes all because they are desperately in need of a gift from God. Some of us were committed, submissive and prayerful Christians in the past but now we are less committed and lukewarm towards worship because we have become successful in our businesses, academics and employment. How different are we from the Israelites Moses led in the wilderness who “… sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” (1 Corinthians 10:7) Paul reminds us that “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. (1 Corinthians 10:9-11). Let us continually pray for discernment and the fear of God to avoid the temptation of worshipping the gift at the neglect of the Giver. Let us pray for self-discipline to overcome the obsession with the ephemeral gifts we have for “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Beloved in the Lord, let us worship and serve God the Giver with the gifts He continues to bestow upon us. May we never replace the Giver with His gifts in our hearts. Shalom

PRAYER

Almighty God, revive our commitment to You again and empower us to rededicate ourselves and renew our love for You again, for we acknowledge that You are the Giver and Creator of our lives. Dear Giver of life, may we continue to receive the immeasurable gifts of life from You now and always. Amen.