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Claim Your Free Gift
In the early years after I graduated college, I worked for a time with a young woman named Teresa who supplemented her income by seeking out and taking advantage of free offers. Often, these offers were proclaimed with the words, “Claim Your Free Gift.” Teresa was constantly filling out forms and cutting stuff out of newspapers and magazines—(this was the early 1980s before smartphones and widespread Internet). I once asked Teresa where she found out about all these various free offers—it looked like a lot of work to me. Her reply was that it took a little research to find them but the payoff was worth it.
I recalled this conversation with Teresa as I read from the book of Ecclesiastes this week. Solomon writes “...that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, is the gift of God.” [Ecc 3:13]. God has given us a gift—that we can enjoy our life, enjoy our food and enjoy our work. This gift is free. So why are we so unhappy? Why are we so often discontented with our work? I suppose we enjoy food and drink but why do we complain about the quality of it or the quantity of it? Maybe it’s because we have not claimed the free gift of God.
The apostle Paul tells us more about the gift of God. He writes, “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ” [Rom 6:23] and “God’s gift and his call are irrevocable.“ [Rom 11:29]. Irrevocable eternal life! That’s an unbelievable gift. And it is ours if we just claim it.
How do we claim the gift of God? A little research of the scriptures will reveal what needs to be done. The early Christians claimed the gift when Peter told them “repent and be baptized every one of you…and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [Acts 2:38]. Later on in the second chapter of Acts we read that all of those who were baptized devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and were united in their mission, eating their food with gladness, praising God and being favored by their neighbors. [See Acts 2:41-47].
Have you claimed the gift of God? Do the research of the scripture and you will find the payoff is well worth it.
Ephesians 2: 8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
