Parents, when they have a new baby, intend to provide for their child to the best of their ability because they’ve given that child the gift of life. When students enroll in university, they are giving themselves the gift of an educated life. When a man and woman choose marriage, they enter a shared life which is a gift of each to the other. All of these are wonderful, and costly, gifts. Each contains moments of great joy, laughter, celebration. Each, too, contains moments of struggle, pain, disappointment. In the ‘up’ moments, these gifts wouldn’t be traded for the world. In the ‘lows,’ there may even arise questions about strength to persevere.
So, we might ask if these are truly gifts if rough patches are included. Shouldn’t gifts be constant sources of pleasure and happiness? Shouldn’t they continually make us smile at our amazing choice? And if we pray, shouldn’t that activity alone clear the deck of any stresses and problems? Shouldn’t that make our difficult people and situations shape up and be sweet, accommodating? Surely the painful bits aren’t meant to grow me up, to bring me to maturity!
Jesus declares (John 10:10) that his purpose in coming is to gift us life and to gift it abundantly, richly, satisfyingly. James 1:17 talks of the good and perfect gifts that stream down out of the heavens – for us! To round out all this enticing talk, Jesus modeled for us a blemish-free life. An uncomfortable examination of this life is confirmed in his word to the disciples (John 16:33). Of course, it must be noted that Jesus’ life was brutally cut short by the raging fear and ignorance of the very ones he came to invite.
Jesus chose to set aside his glory and submit to life as a man, becoming familiar with all our weaknesses and temptations (Hebrews 4:15). He represented a different Kingdom from the Kingdom of this World and those he called to himself he called to represent his Kingdom, setting them glaringly apart, unmistakably other. And, according to the ‘Plan’ of his Father, he provided oases in the desert spaces of this world that we would not perish or despair of this life we’ve been gifted. Indeed, it is a life experiencing the entire spectrum of this world’s problems right alongside the pleasure of being face to face with him. Is ours a good life, y’all? You betcha! PD
