Gifts

I have been married for thirty years which is exactly half of my adult life. I can still recall the wedding gifts we received, the reception dinner but most of the memories of the actual ceremony have been lost to time. It’s odd that such an important day of one’s life could be clouded by the mere passage of the years. But what is truly peculiar is the fact that I can remember every single wedding gift we received. There was a set of enameled mixing bowls, complete set of dinner plates, two glass vases, eight champagne glasses, of which only two remain, a heavy crystal bowl and one Krups coffee grinder.

Out of all those thoughtful gifts we received that day, the only one that remains in working order is the coffee grinder. On that subject I’d like to thank all the engineers at Krups Manufacturing for designing such a solid appliance. This one gift has outlasted all the others which have been left behind, broken or sent on ahead to the Salvation Army. 

The coffee grinder was incredibly practical and in fact was used every morning since the blessed day we exchanged our vows except of course for a couple of small vacations. Now I’ve purchased expensive appliances before from depot type home remodeling warehouses only to have them quit working just months after installation. Oh, and for the record, these depot type stores don’t service what they sell or exchange defective merchandise.

I can remember the person who purchased the coffee grinder and though we haven’t seen her in many years her image is ground into my memory. The crystal bowl was incredibly beautiful, it had diamond shaped facets cut into the outside that allowed light to sparkle and refract into all the colors of the rainbow. Unfortunately, I dropped the bowl one night and it broke into a thousand little pieces on the tile. Six of the eight champagne glasses followed a similar fate as the bowl with only two remaining survivors. One other gift I remember vividly was the set of dinner plates which my mother-in-law’s sister bought for us and was without a doubt the most useful gift we received. Unfortunately, she has dementia and doesn’t know who we are.

The church is the spiritual bride of Christ. And just as in a regular wedding God has given spiritual gifts to individuals when they first begin trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation. All spiritual gifts are incredibly useful but the one gift I have always wanted was the gift of tongues. This gift, the ability to speak in a language not previously known or a heavenly language that is not verbally discernible, has always intrigued me.

 There was a time in my life where I was determined to receive this gift. One night, while listening to the radio, I called a live radio show where the host promised that anyone could speak in tongues. Excited I dialed the number and waited on hold until it was my turn to be on-the-air. The radio host assured me that the gift was available for the taking and all I had to do was believe! So he began to pray for me and then spoke a couple indiscernible sentences. After a dynamic pause he encouraged me to give it a try and just open up and let it rip!

Unfortunately, for the talk show host and all his faithful listeners all they heard was “dead air” and if the audience could have seen me at home I looked like a stunned deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. The host reassured me that all I needed was more faith and then began to pray in the same indiscernible language. Now the pressure was really on to perform but with my mouth still hanging wide open nothing came out. That’s when I heard the distinctive “click” of a receiver in my ear and felt incredibly disappointed, so I called back.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ then you were given gifts at your spiritual birth. Here’s a partial list: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, teaching, ministry, exhortation, giving, leadership and mercy.

Paul writes that while we might have many of these gifts, if we don’t use them combined with love then we have become just clanging brass. Our motivation for using our gifts must always come from our hearts filled with love for other people. What’s interesting is that all these gifts have a shelf life and can only be used for today right up to the time Christ returns. Once He returns the doors will be shut and the marriage supper of the Lamb will begin. “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”