The idea for this blog post came to me over the Christmas season. Inevitably during the holidays, there’s someone in your life that you get a gift for that didn’t get you a gift in return. Or maybe you’re the one who received a gift from someone that you didn’t get a gift for.

Our God gives us the best example for how to deal with each situation.

In the first situation, where you have gotten a gift for someone and they did not get a gift for you, God is our role model. After all, God has presented us all with the greatest gift imaginable: eternal life with him. And though we think we give back to him, it is but a speck amid the infinite cosmos of his creation. In fact, what do we have to give to God that he didn’t first give to us? But our God is happy to give to us this wonderful gift, asking nothing in return but that we accept it and have a relationship with him. He does not want us to feel guilt, shame, or debt to him for the gift we have received; He wants us to be a loving family. In the same way, if you find that you have gotten a gift for someone and they don’t have one to reciprocate, your reaction should be the same. You didn’t get them a gift in the hopes of reciprocation; you got them a gift because you wanted to give.

In the opposite situation, most of us would feel dreadfully uncomfortable. To receive a gift from someone else and not have something for them surely indicates that you don’t feel nearly as close to that person as they feel to you. It’s very awkward. But again, God shows us the proper reaction to this situation in that we are all in this situation every day with him. God has blessed us all with spiritual life and there is nothing even remotely equivalent to gift back to him. All that is expected is to say, “Thank you,” and to continue in relation with Him. And this is exactly how we should react when we receive a gift from someone that we didn’t get a gift for. Not every interaction need be transactional and if the other person is happy to give the gift, then we should be happy to receive it.

Obviously, this is not to encourage you to stop getting gifts for others and to just reap in the gifts of others. In fact, as Christians, we should be compelled to be the consumate giver in all things. Because of how much we have been given by our Lord, we should be moved to give of ourselves as well.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and may 2022 be a blessed year for you and your family!