Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10).
Jesus Christ is the gift of gifts. As Son of God, He offered Himself to the Father before the foundation of the world. In so doing He became the gift of God to us. “If you knew the gift of God… you would have asked Him… and He would have given…” God’s gift is Christ, and God gives all His gifts through Christ. The greatest gift is God’s love, embodied in Jesus. The gift that brings us to spiritual consciousness is faith. Our salvation is a gift (Ephesians 2:6). And His gifts never end, because in Christ we have eternal life.
In the life of the new creation, everything is a gift: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness… he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature…” (2 Peter 1:3-4). As an example, holiness is a gift. “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). Taken as a command, this is beyond our ability to obey. But taken as a gift we understand, “Because I am holy, and I have granted you holiness in My beloved Son, I therefore consider you to be holy.”
Really, all gifts of God are one: Christ Jesus. “God will not give me humility or patience or holiness, or love as separate gifts of His grace… He has given only one gift to meet all our need: His Son Christ Jesus. As I look to Him to live out His life in me, He will be humble and patient and loving and everything else I need—in my stead” (Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life).
The opportunity to experience transformation is a gift. To whatever degree the life of Christ is on display in the way we live, we bear the image of the Living God. As we bear His image, we are His gift to each other and to everyone we encounter. “Be occupied with Christ, and the Holy Spirit will show you more and more in Christ with which to be occupied, and as He makes that livingly real, you will have something to give to others” (T. Austin-Sparks).
Our being God’s gift directs attention back on God the Giver. That gift is a true testimony to the His power in Christ, that He can transform such people as us. That gift declares that humans actually can give God the opportunity to reveal His character in a visible way. That gift foreshadows, through us, what His Kingdom will be like on the earth.
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