Weekly Snippet: The Greatest Gifts in Life Don't Come with Money

Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.  Ecclesiastes 7:12 NIV

Perhaps when Solomon wrote that "money is a shelter," he was pointing out how nice it is to have enough money that you don't have to worry about paying your bills or buying that little thing that you want.  In fact, I define poverty as not having enough to cover all of our needs.  Today, around the holidays, financial poverty is felt all the more keenly when we want to be more generous than our budgets allow.  But, money isn't everything, and it doesn't do the one thing that we all need--protect our lives.

Wouldn't it be fantastic to be able to buy a Christmas gift that fulfilled someone's every need?  In essence, wouldn't it be wonderful to give the gift of the end of poverty?  We all want something for Christmas, and there are a lot of things that would make us happy, but there are only a few things we need.  The end of poverty is high on that list.

Well, years ago, somebody did buy that gift.  The purchaser's name was Jesus.  He began poor, and stayed poor, but He grew in wisdom, and with that wisdom He obeyed God and purchased the gift of eternal life so that He could give it to anyone who asked for it.

How is that the end of poverty?  Well, we all lacked life, and we didn't have enough of the right thing to ever achieve eternal life.  Therefore, we all live in poverty.  The greatest gift--the most valuable gift--is life, and Jesus taught us a valuable lesson about it. The greatest gift we can receive cannot be purchased with money.  Both the rich and the poor know this.  Eternal life is purchased with wisdom, and knowledge of the God who gives it.  If we don't seek out the God who gives us life and wisdom, we will always be poor.

This Christmas, do you have the greatest gift of all?  I know that none of us are capable of displaying the kind of wisdom it takes to earn this gift.  That's why the richest man in the world, Jesus Christ, had to buy it.   He didn't use silver and gold.  He gave His life.

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  1 Peter 1: 18-19 NIV

 Do you know Him?  If you don't, and you want to know more about this gift, please read my post "To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice," for a more detailed explanation.  If you agree with me, I have written how to receive this priceless gift at the end of this post, "Have They Heard?"

Thank you for reading!  Until next week, this is my reminder to you to stay savvy--seek wisdom!