Glad to hear from him, but wondering what TV news could possibly make anyone happy, I smiled into the phone and answered, "No, I haven't. What's up?"
"Someone's going around to K-Mart stores and paying off people's lay-away charges", he replied. Then he added in his teasing, fun-loving way, "Ask me how I know."
"Okay," I said, humoring him, "How do you know?"
"Because someone just paid off our lay-away charges at K-Mart!" Darren was jubilant.
I gasped. "What? Now that's something new; what a wonderful thing for someone to do especially at Christmas time!"
"You know, Mom," Darren said, "I just feel so blessed by God through the actions of this person, whoever he/she was. I pray God will bless them a hundred-fold for their generosity! And even though our lay-away was not a huge sum of money, just that act of kindness blessed us so much!"
I rejoiced with our son as we praised God together over the phone.
This morning as I was doing my hair, I thought again about the good news Darren brought to me yesterday. Suddenly a scripture came to mind from Matthew 7, and I thought about the Christmas gifts I was buying for our children and grandchildren.
I thanked God for being the wonderful Father He is and for the wonderful words of Jesus. He promised, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7: 7-12, NIV)
God is not a scrooge, or a grinch, nor does He give grudgingly. How do I know? Because He told us not to be that way! God is extravagantly generous. He gave His only begotten Son for us, to die in our place, after He came to earth as a tiny baby so many years ago. He came as the Son of Man, one of us, but without sin. He lived a perfect life, and never once gave in to Satan's temptations. In taking our place, He kept the Law perfectly, meeting God's standard of perfection. Then God put all our sin on Him on the cross, and He became sin for us and paid the penalty for transgressing God's holiness. He died, was buried, but then on the third day, God raised Him back to life again! Alleluia! He ascended back into heaven where He prays for us. What extravagant love! And all who believe in what Jesus did for them personally, and declare Him to be their Savior and Lord, are promised eternal life. What a GIFT! Have you received yours yet? If not, today is the day: just ask Him. He's waiting to give you the gift of the assurance of eternal life with Him forever. What more could anyone want for Christmas?
Copyright © 2011 Elaine Beachy
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