The Greatest Gift

Of all the gifts you could ever hope to receive, what would be the greatest? Of course, it would be your eternal salvation, confirmed by the Spirit that "God has given to those who obey Him" (Acts 5:32). There is nothing we could ever want or need more.

Jesus Christ said if anyone loves Him and keeps His word, that He and His Father "will come to him" and make their "home with him" (John 14:23). That means the life of God will be in us, and that is our assurance of immortality. There is no gift we could want more than this, but a gift is of no value if we do not use it. That is why you must "stir up the gift of God which is in you" (2 Timothy 1:6)!

If you stir up the gift, God's Spirit enlightens your understanding and leads you. It enables you to patiently endure through every trial of this life and receive the promised inheritance. The Spirit makes you a new creation in Christ, and even though your "outward man is perishing" your "inward man is being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16). If you are led by that Spirit, you assure yourself "an entrance...into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:11)!

We are about to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. It is the day that mere men and women like us received assurance of the greatest gift you could ever want, eternal life. So, use this Feast day as motivation to renew and stir up the gift that is in you, and assure your eternal salvation. Let us remember that the Spirit of God in us is our assurance of eternal life. That is the greatest gift we could ever hope to have. As Paul wrote, "He who has prepared us" to receive immortality "is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee (2 Corinthians 5:5)!

Warm regards,

Andy

Pastor