December 25, 2013
Re-Gifting
More and more we hear of people
re-gifting presents that, for whatever reason, were items they don’t need or
want. I recently learned of a fruitcake that one family has lovingly passed
around for years - that is a real fruitcake, not the collective family
fruitcake. In a spiritual sense Paul told Timothy how to re-gift the Holy
Spirit. “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which
is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not
give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of
self–discipline.” (2 Tim 1:6 NIV) This Christmas season may we too re-gift and
give to others the essence of the Spirit Who lives within us.
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Rarely does a bright thought fit inside a good metaphor. Most always a few aspects hang outside it like Crayon marks running over the lines. And sometimes most of the idea crosses the line. But that creates more focus upon the intended point, and more fruit grows on the marks branching outside the lines to boot.
-----Both the American Heritage Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary relate life to the four technical processes of metabolism, growth, response to stimuli, and reproduction which distinguish the living from the dead, then they carefully hold separate its relation to a “spiritual existence transcending death.” It’s almost like they fail to note the transcendence of the animate object over the inanimate one to avoid attaching any meaning to “spiritual”. Yet “spiritual” is Crayon marking across technical lines.
-----I am over-joyous that I can re-gift the Holy Spirit and yet keep all of Him I had. This is certainly a Crayon mark across the line. I marvel that the response to any stimulus in this life can be an ingesting of God’s Word, careful thought, and appropriate observation into a metabolic process generating both growth of understanding and more attachment to the Holy Spirit. Seeing re-gifting as itself a stimuli also for response defines even more marks across the lines, for not only is the re-gifted Holy Spirit kept, its life in us expands. Oh Boy! We can do that Christmas every day!
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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