When I was a kid, a lady in my mom’s office sent home a birthday gift for me. It was $25 which was a huge some of money for me at the time. What was unique about the gift is that it was actually 25 one dollar coins. The heft of those things was amazing to me. I felt like someone had given me gold bricks. Being a kid, I couldn’t wait to go spend those coins. As I recall, I took a couple of my friends to a movie with me that night. We ordered candy and drinks with abandon and lived like kings! I think we also went to an arcade afterward. I came home that night with nothing left but I didn’t care because we had such a good time.
It was only the next day that a thought drifted into my mind. My mom’s friend was a coin collector. That’s why she gave me my gift in coins. Could it be that the coins had some special value? Were they part of a set? Were they real silver dollar coins? Were they old or rare in some way? In my haste to enjoy the gift, I only looked at the face value of the coins and never took the time to really explore their true value.
I was to embarrassed to ask anyone if the coins were special in any way so I’ll never know what I really spent that day. Honestly, even if I had looked closely at them I didn’t know enough about coins to know what I had in my hands. I really needed an expert to tell me the real nature and value of the gift that was in my possession.
The same can be said of Jesus. He is the greatest gift that has ever been given. He is the one and only begotten Son of God and the Father gave Him as a gift to redeem mankind. He gave Him as a give to you and me and if we take the step of receiving that gift He will come into our lives and transform us. Because of God’s grace and God’s gift, we can become Christ followers, the children of God.
I’d like to suggest, however, that even after we have received the amazing gift of Jesus we don’t really know exactly how great that gift is. Don’t get me wrong. You have to understand it somewhat to initially receive Him and make Him lord of your life but it is the duty of those that follow Him to continue to examine the great gift that is now in their lives.
Just like the birthday gift I was given, there’s more to it. There’s a lot more to it. Don’t see Jesus as savior and stop there. As wonderful as that is, there’s more. You need to see Him as brother, redeemer, leader, comforter, encourager, teacher, friend and more. It goes on and on and on. You and I must spend the rest of our lives exploring the infinite richness of the gift that the Father has given us.
There’s more to what you have in your hands than just want you can see.