His indescribable gift

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! – 2 Corinthians 9v15

I love the way Paul closes his discourse on giving. Paul reminds us all of the ultimate standard of giving. Our standard is this: God’s gift of His Son on the cross.

We can be tempted to think that we do pretty well when it comes to giving. We give our tithe, we give God our few hours a week, we sue the abilities that God gives us, and we think that we are doing a good job. We talk a lot about sacrifice and “doing without” for the Lord. To listen to some well meaning preacher you would think that missionaries who leave “home” to go to a foreign field are some kind of great givers for giving it all up to serve the Lord. We may be burdened for a particular need and stretch ourselves financially to meet that need. We may pick up our weary bodies in order to serve the body of Christ. When we do this we may be in danger of thinking that our a doing our part.

But what is the standard? “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” God loved the world so much that He gave His Son – Jesus, the Perfect, Spotless, Lamb of God to die in my place. What can I possible do that measure up to that? There isn’t enough, as one songwriter put it “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, and my all.”

Francis Havergal comes close to capturing the basis for our giving in the light of His gift with her “Take My Life”

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing,
Always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold;
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.

In the light of His indescribable gift, dare we say any less in our own lives?