In this most wonderful time of year I’m reminded that I need more stuff. My wife and I watched a few minutes of a movie a couple of nights ago, one promoting Christmas as so much more than presents. But the ads interrupting the flow assailed us with the opposite. According to the retailers who paid for the commercials, Christmas is all about the merch.

Despite my mumbling, giving and receiving gifts remains a wonderful tradition, harkening back to three wise gift-givers who visited the young Jesus. I never want to lose sight of how this all started.

I also don’t want to lose sight of who all this stuff actually belongs to. The Lord spoke to Job and made that clear:

Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

Everything is a big word, encompassing like…everything. All I see and touch and look upon is the Lord’s. All I cling to in my possession is actually the Lord’s. Everything includes my person as well. I’m not my own, but belong to God in heaven.

With this in mind gift-giving takes a different tack. I’m merely passing something of the Lord’s along to someone else. What God has given to me, I’m able to give to others. Or to put it in more religious (but appropriate) terms, the Lord blessed me so I may bless others.

Which is good for me to remember. Because giving and receiving in this mindset makes for a most wonderful time, any time of the year.

Job 41 in reading the Bible in 2023

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