Drawing Names

The Christmas season is almost upon us.  Halloween is the end of the week and once in November the Christmas floodgates are open and we will be in for two full months of Christmas extravaganza.  One practice that has become very common in gift giving circles is the practice of trading names.  In stead of buying a gift for everyone, we will each buy a gift for one person.

I know a family that takes the name draw one step further.  You draw a name.  You then go buy yourself a present and say it is from them.  On Christmas they get together, open presents and see what they gave each other.  So I draw Julie's name.  I know that I want a new cordless drill, so I go and buy one.  And a good one at that.  After all, Julie would only want the best for me.  Then I wrap it and put on the tag, "To Me.  From Julie".  On Christmas we open it and I thank Julie for this wonderful present.

So I have a hard time with the buying for ourselves model of gift giving.  But I think that sometimes we have a similar mentality when it comes to sharing the gifts we have been blessed with.  In this sense I'm not talking about a physical, paper-wrapped gift.  I am talking about the gifts and talents and blessing that we all have. 

We all have gifts.  We all have talents.  We all have abilities.  And everyone's are a bit different.  We all have a place and a purpose for which we can use our talents.  But sometimes we look at our particular set of skills and say "These are mine.  I will only use them on myself." 

I don't think that we consciously make this decision.  I think that we can commit ourselves to a point where there is nothing left.  We get all used up before we get to God.  To turn over our talents and gifts for the greater glory of God requires our surrender.  It requires us to seek God's will for our lives first and place it as a top priority.  And believe me, at this point I am pretty much talking to myself.  I am a master at filling my schedule to the point that there is no room left.  These gifts are mine I will use them for myself.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We all have a gift to bring to the table.  We have talents, abilities, callings, that are useful to others and to the kingdom of God.  And with these gifts we can either put our own name on the box, or we can say, "God, the gift is from you.  Tell me where it should go."