September 18, 2023 — Knowing the Gift of God

“The other day,” Stan commented one morning while we were having breakfast, “I was talking with a neighbor about how he came to faith.”

“It’s always good to hear another person’s story about that,” I commented. “What’d he have to say?”

“That someone asked him a single question that changed everything for him.”

“A single question?” I responded. “Must have been a good one! What was it?”

“Someone asked him, ‘Do you know the gift of God?’”

“Do you know the gift of God?” I repeated. “That’s an interesting question! I wonder where it came from. You have any idea?”

 “What my neighbor said,” Stan replied, “is that as he came to faith and began to read and study the Bible, he saw that the question came from something Jesus had said to the woman at the well.”

“The woman at the well?” I said. “What’d Jesus say to her?”

“The apostle John records that Jesus began a statement to the woman at the well with, ‘If you knew the gift of God’ she would do something about it.”

“Do what?”

“Ask Him for the living water He had to give her,” Stan replied. “And, it seems to me, that’s what all of us are supposed to do, but first we have to know the gift of God.”

“And that gift is what?” I asked. “Jesus? Is He the gift?”

“I think so,” Stan replied. “It started with God giving the gift of His only begotten Son to redeem the lost world, and, it seems to me, that knowing Him is what this life is supposed to be all about. God gave Jesus as the way to Him for all of eternity, beginning here, and we are to pursue knowing that gift as deeply as possible for as long as we are on this side of eternity.”

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Bible verses to consider:

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16.

And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent. John 17:3.

Prayer: Thank you, Father, for the gift of Jesus as the way to life eternally with you. Thank you for those people who asked if I knew that gift and showed me the way I could know the truth. I confess that too often I don’t ask others the same question of whether they know what you have given. Please help me in following every step of your lead so I do ask others the essential question that will help them know the way to you for all of eternity beginning now. Thank you that I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Think on this: Do you know the gift of God in the sense that you have accepted His free and gracious provision of life eternally with Him? If no, why do you want to remain separated from God for all of eternity? If you are a Christian with the assurance of salvation and redemption, how are you doing with asking others if they know the gift of God? How are you doing with knowing the gift of God in an ever-deepening way? If you sense the need for change in any of this, how is that change going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?