Between my last blog post I have been to the States and back
to the Dominican again. It’s safe to say
that when I got home my body pretty much shut down, from my brain to my immune
system…it knew it was home!
It was great to see family and friends again, catch up on
life, drink Starbucks and be able to wear jeans, hoodies, socks and boots! There definitely wasn’t enough time to see
everybody and the visits I had with some of the besties weren’t quite long enough,
but I’ll take what I can get and was loved on immensely.
At times it was difficult tho…especially Christmas
morning. My family has a saying “Go big
or go home” and usually that is illustrated the best at Christmas. We are a gift giving family…and safe to say
it’s pretty much the love language of each one of the Snyders. Not to mention it was my nephews first “real”
Christmas where he could open presents and interact with us all. You can say we’re all a little bit
spoiled.
Usually I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to spoiling
friend and family regardless if it’s Christmas or not. To me,
giving the perfect gift is the highlight of my year. Starting August or September I’m listening,
taking notes or observing people to try and figure out what that perfect gift
would be, but this year I wasn’t able to do that. Living in the Dominican Republic, removed
from normal life in the States, I didn’t realize how difficult Christmas
shopping would be. Not only was I not
interacting with those I love the most to figure out that perfect gifts, it
didn’t even FEEL like Christmas because I was still wearing shorts and tank
tops in early December so even online shopping wasn’t appealing to me!
So to walk down stairs on Christmas morning to the mountains
of presents in the family room and to realize that I had barely bought one was
hard. The other difficult part was just
the amount of presents that were for me.
It’s really no more or no less than I usually get…but this year (or for
the last 4 months) I did nothing to earn those gifts. I know most of you are thinking “it’s
Christmas, Jaime…you shouldn’t have to earn those…they’re GIFTS!” Exactly.
They were given to me because my family loves me unconditionally…I
didn’t have to earn them and will never have to earn them. So for me to sit there, not earning the gifts
and also having done nothing to reciprocate the amount spent on the gifts was
extremely humbling.
I was reflecting on that this morning then realized that is exactly how we’re supposed to feel when it comes to God’s perfect gift for us, humbled and undeserving.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and
this is not from yourselves, it is
the gift of God— 9 not
by works, so that no one can boast.”
Salvation is a gift from God. But
just because it’s under the tree with my name on it, it is not actually mine
until I accept it. Salvation, eternal
life in heaven with God, is a gift that we have to receive. It’s not enough just to know about it, we
have to be proactive and accept it.
“For it is by grace you have been
saved…”
GRACE: “God’s free and undeserved favor”
:: We don’t deserve God’s gift of grace, just as I didn’t deserve the Christmas
gifts…but I received both anyways.
“this is not of yourselves” :: I did
nothing to receive the gift of grace, just as I did nothing to receive the
Christmas gifts
“it is the gift of God” :: He wants us
to receive it because He loves us, just as my family and friends wanted me to
receive what they had gotten me, because they love me.
“not by works” :: I didn’t work for
God’s gift of grace, God just loves me…after all He is the one who created me,
just as I didn’t work for the Christmas gifts that were given to me because my
family and friends love me.
“so that no one can boast” :: it’s not
about being better than any one person, or being the best. We’re all sinners. We’re all born on a level playing field and
nothing we can do or say will earn us more or less grace. It’s there…it’s free…it’s yours for the taking.
Honestly I struggle with that sometimes. I love to serve people and to do things for
people I love, and sometimes I think… “I wonder if they’re my friend because I
do things for them, and if I stop doing things for them…will they still be my
friend?” Having friends is sometimes
hard to come by so I’ve never actually stopped doing things for people for fear
that it is true and they will no longer want to be my friend. I know it’s a skewed perspective, but it’s
the truth. The cool thing is that God's not human...even if my friend/love hypothesis turned out to be true here on earth...God's love is never conditional like that. It is unconditional. For me not to have to do anything
for God’s love and grace is hard for me to comprehend sometimes. So I dig a little deeper into God’s Word.
John 6:63 says “The Spirit alone
gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing.” Wow.
Human effort accomplishes nothing? NOTHING. NANA. ZIP. ZILTCH. Getting to heaven is not a points system,
it’s not a comparison system, it’s nothing that we can do. Only by accepting Jesus into our hearts, thus
accepting the Holy Spirit ALONE gives eternal life.
So I ask you today to think about it,
think about the gift of grace…it’s not just a pretty thing to look at…GO GRAB
IT, it’ll be the best gift you’ve ever received.
And you thought Christmas was just
about baby Jesus!
