This past Christmas, as I went down Silas's list which contained athletic shoe after athletic shoe and hoodie after hoodie, I was about to give up when suddenly I saw a mini-fridge. We are talking really "mini" here—it only held 3 cans of soda. We thought one of those hotel mini-fridges might be better and not much more, so we went searching. Boy, were we wrong. They cost about 6 times as much. So we kept looking and finally found one closer to the one Silas had picked out, about the same price, but large enough for "12-15 soda cans." So we bought it, told his mom to take the other one off his wish list so no one else would buy him one, and when it arrived, wrapped it and put it with the other presents.
When time came to swap presents, his was one of the last. His little brother, due to the relative costs of things, had gotten three less expensive items, and that meant Silas had only the one to open. Finally we got to his present and when we placed the very large box in his lap and he felt how heavy it was, he wondered aloud what in the world it could be, which really surprised me, and made me worry a bit that we had gotten something he didn't really care that much about. Surely if he hoped he would get it, he would be anxiously looking for something the right size and shape.
So he began to tear off the paper, still wondering aloud, "What IS this thing?" He got about a third of the paper off when he suddenly said, "I know what it is—I think," then more tearing of paper, and we finally heard, "Yes, it is. It is. It is!!" For the rest of the evening he held that box in his lap with his arms wrapped around it, and we were as pleased about it as he was.
We have had other experiences of gift-giving when, upon opening the present, the person said, "Oh. I don't like those," by an adult, mind you, and the same person more than once. I can tell you I was floored. My mama taught me better than that and it's hard to imagine anyone's mama who did not. But isn't that just what we do to God and his gifts to us sometimes?
Most of us have better sense than to say anything negative about the gift of a Savior. But I have heard enough complaints about His body, the church, to make me wonder why He even bothered to give us one. This is not just His body, it is His kingdom as well. It is the list in heaven where our names are written (Heb 12:23)—a glorious honor. It is the place on this earth, for now, where he has placed his people so they can help one another, support one another, and encourage one another. Without this help where would we be, how could we ever overcome Satan's temptations and destroy his devices? But no, some of us are just like the scribes, Pharisees, and chief priests who refused to acknowledge the kingdom because they didn't like the King and the way it was set up—it didn't fill the bill to them. He once said to them because of their attitude, “Truly…the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you" (Matt 21:31). How can we expect anything else when we slander one another, complain about the preacher and his sermons, or think everyone should listen to our opinions about how things are run or else we will leave? Why do we think we can complain about such a gift and be any different than those people were? Jesus won't take that any better than I took it when my gifts were complained about.
No, the congregation which you are a member of is not perfect. Probably they have disappointed our Father more than once. But that's because it is made up of imperfect people who sometimes fail to follow the perfect law of liberty. And that includes you. My group includes me. But if we all recognized the gift we have been given and what it cost—the life of Christ, at a minimum—then maybe it would come a little closer to the ideal that God designed.
When you complain about the gift, you are complaining about the giver of the gift as well. I am sure none of us really mean to do that at all.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Heb 12:22-24).
Dene Ward