Did you know God created you to be His gift to the world? It is true! We have all heard the expression "He thinks he is God's gift to the earth" spoken of someone who is so full of himself he hardly ever thinks of anyone else. But we know the Christian life is not about being full of ourselves-of ourselves we have nothing to give. We are God's gift to the world because we carry Christ within us, and we will only be a gift to the degree that we give ourselves to Him. The truth that we are to be God's gift to the world sets a challenge before each one of us to live as the gift God intends us to be. Our call to be a gift is expressed in the fact of our creation in the image of the Triune God, in God's gift to us in His Son, and in our responsibility to follow the example of Christ.
   The revelation of our being a gift goes all the way back to Genesis, when God says "Let us make man in our image and likeness" (1:26). First of all, the "us" in this statement, the one in whose image we are made, is the Trinity. Within the Trinity, among the three Persons of the Godhead there is a continuous giving, a constant exchange of love. God the Father can be seen as the initiator of love, while the Son is the personification of that love, and the Holy Spirit is the creative force of that love. All of God's creation is in reality a wonderful gift-an expression of the awesome power and the giving love of the Trinity. Out of this generosity and love, God created man.
   God's love for us is boundless; He desires to give beyond anything you and I can imagine. Since we are created in the image of God, the Three in One who is always giving out of love, we know that we are created to image this continuous giving.
   In fact, God created us to give ourselves away. God is whole and complete within Himself, yet He has communion within Himself in the Trinity. We are not whole within ourselves; we long to surrender ourselves fully in a loving relationship with our creator God. This was God's purpose from the beginning: that we should enter fully into the love of the Triune God. In addition to giving ourselves to God, we, on a different level, long to give ourselves to others. One of the most profound ways we choose to give ourselves away is in marriage; when a husband and wife are a gift to each other, life emerges. In marriage, God allows us to enter into the act of creation through our ability to procreate and to reflect the creative power of His love. Those who take vows of celibacy for the kingdom of God also demonstrate a spiritually fruitful means of giving themselves away, declaring in a profoundly prophetic manner the oneness God seeks with us through Christ when we give ourselves to Him.
   What does it say in John 3:16? God so loved the world that He demanded? No, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." God had a plan from the time of the Fall to secure our redemption, and that plan involved a gift of love almost beyond human comprehension. In the Incarnation, He gave His dearest and most beloved One, the very manifestation of Himself. If we begin to understand the Trinity, we realize God actually gave Himself. In Deuteronomy we read the Shemah, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deut. 6:4). We could translate John 3:16 in our minds: God so loved the world that He gave Himself.
   God has called us to be a gift-to emulate Christ, His gift to the world. We are called to follow the directive God has set before us in the personage of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself to you and to me that He might be crucified on our behalf. In the various accounts of the Crucifixion in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we are struck by this ultimate expression of God's love for us. What an unbelievable gift! In the life of Jesus and particularly in the Crucifixion, God has set the standard for love and for true giving.
   I think the symbol of the crucifix is rejected so often because it is a graphic reminder of the level of giving God calls for: He calls for us to give all and to be willing to lay down even our very lives for Him. He calls us to a level of giving that is extremely vulnerable, and even frightening at times. When we are truly giving, we expect nothing back and do not have selfish motives. If we desire to give as Jesus gave, our expectation, our rate of return, has to be from the Lord alone.
   In seeking to give as Jesus gave, it is important to realize it is contrary to our fallen human nature to give. We just don't give well; we are too self-centered-myself included. Our bent instincts are to take what we want when we want it. How many of you have ever watched children in a sandbox? Everything goes fine until one child has something one of the other children wants. What does he do? He yanks it out of the other child's hand. We are no different; we may be more subtle, but we are no different. It is all about what I want to possess, what is convenient for me, and what will ensure my emotional security. The person who denies that "I think life is about me" is probably the most self-centered; he is so self-focused he can't see the truth. It is important for all of us to face our self-centeredness, because we must acknowledge the problem in order to seek to change. The Christian walk is about putting me aside in order to allow Jesus to enter into the situation, so that He can give His gift through me.
   This brings me to the next point. The more I am yielded to Christ, the more I am a gift to others, and the more I want to give myself away. I want to be a gift to others, whether or not others receive my gift. The more I am in Christ, the more I desire to love others, whether they love me or not. When I am walking fully in Christ, it doesn't matter if I'm inconvenienced. Nothing matters but giving myself away out of love for Jesus and others.
   As Christians we are the heart, hands, arms, and mouth of Christ in the world. It is through us that the mercy of God is to be extended. It is through us that the saving message of the Gospel is to be shared. Through people like you and me, God is bringing His salvation to this earth and is fulfilling the word spoken by Jesus in the Lord's Prayer: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." As Saint Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5, we are ambassadors of God who is seeking to reconcile the world to Himself. We give by being witnesses of Christ.
   The importance of being a gift is easy to see in evangelism. We accomplish nothing when we try to cram our ideas down someone else's throat, or when we are more concerned with being right than with loving those who don't know Christ. When I was in the Gambia, West Africa, I learned some interesting things about evangelizing Muslims. I could never argue the Bible with them, because the Bible was part of their tradition. I couldn't argue the Koran with them, because I am not educated in the Koran. But one thing would get their attention: the gift of the miraculous. That would stop the arguments and the theological debates. The miraculous gifts of God would stop them to the point where they were ready to ask questions about Christianity.
   In the Gambia, I was once asked to speak at a civic club where Christians and Muslims came together regularly. They asked if I would come and share about healing ministry. I said I would, but that I was Christian and would share my Christian testimony because Christ is the basis of healing ministry. They said that was fine as long as I geared it toward healing. I gave my testimony and they were very polite, but when I began talking about God moving miraculously, they sat on the edge of their seats. When I asked if anyone wanted prayer, the Muslims came forward in response to God's gift. It was mainly Muslims who received physical healings. They were eager and ready to receive the gift God desired to give through me, His servant.
   In addition to being a gift by witnessing of Christ, we can choose to be a gift in all areas of our lives. How can we be a gift in our daily life? There are a multitude of ways: thinking about what would be a blessing to someone else; choosing to be available for our family even when we are tired; listening to the one who is talking to us, even when he has interrupted our schedule; being kind even when we are irritated.
   What if our gift is not appreciated? There will be times when it won't be. We need to gladly accept the fact and rejoice to be able to join in the sufferings of our Lord. The gift of Jesus was not appreciated. We responded to His gift by crucifying Him.
   Our Christian faith stands in opposition to our fallen nature. Because our nature is self-focused, it is based on how we feel. The call to be a gift forces us to come out of ourselves and to look to how the other person feels. The more we wrestle with how right we are on any subject, the more we fail to be a gift. The more we dig our heels in to our own self-righteousness, the more we fail to be a gift. The more we demand our own way, no matter what the issue might be, the more we fail to be a gift. Yet, how easy it is for us to lose our temper. How easy it is for us to fail to say a kind word or worse yet to speak a harsh word. It is easy for us to fail to be a gift-but in Christ, through small things done with love, we can be a greater gift than we may ever know!
   How can you and I in Christ be God's greatest gift to the world? The answer is very simple: God loved us so much that He gave Himself, and He Himself is within us. Our gift is to give ourselves away-not our opinions, not our theology, not what we are naturally inclined to give-but to give ourselves, joyfully and completely. The gift of self is the toughest thing we'll ever give, yet in giving ourselves, we give Christ.
   Lord, show us how to be a gift to others.