The Hidden Gift

2 Corinthians 4:3 – “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.”

Christmas morning has never come quickly enough for me.  As a kid, it was my personal goal to find out what my presents were as soon as possible.  My mom would come up with very unique ways of keeping me from finding my presents before Christmas, including a few very creative hiding places.  I still remember the first time my sister and I opened and re-wrapped our gifts to see what they were… and I still remember my mom threatening to take them back when she found out.

Jesus Christ is God’s gift to the world.

Ephesians 2:8 – “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”

Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The difference with this gift is that God is not interested in hiding it.

Do you know the main difference between my childhood curiosity and the world’s desperate searching?  I knew what I was looking for.  The world may know something is missing, but most people have no idea what they’re looking for.  They are “lost” just as Paul described them in 2 Corinthians.

Are you hiding God’s gift to the world?

Before you answer that question, let’s consider some ways that we hide God’s gift.

We hide God’s gift with our sin.

When you harbor sin in your life, you will not easily share God’s gift.  Sin will always hinder our passions for souls, but our sin will do more than just discourage us from witnessing.  It will distract the lost from receiving God’s gift.

One of my first questions I ask when I’m picking a present from the gift exchange pile is this – “Who brought this?”  Why?  Because who brought it tells me a lot about what kind of gift it will be.  We may have the perfect gift, but people aren’t just concerned with the gift.  They’re also very interesting in the giver.

Why would someone want the gift of peace from someone who is worried?
Why would someone want the gift of love from someone who is rude or unkind?
Why would someone want the gift of hope from someone who is negative?

Don’t allow sin to discourage you and distract others from God’s gift.

We hide God’s gift with our silence.

Sometimes, we’re silenced by fear, but God offers a replacement of that fear.

2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Most often, though, I believe we are silenced by forgetfulness.  One year, I found the perfect Christmas gift in early Spring, and I decided to get an early jump on shopping.  I purchased the gift, hid it carefully in the house, and promptly forgot about it until the following Spring.  Christmas had come and gone, and I had completely forgotten about the gift.

Forgotten gifts never bring joy to anyone.  Someone was supposed to receive the perfect gift, but they never got it, because I forgot I had it.

In Philippians 1, Paul describes his compassion for the people at Phillipi.  In verse three, we see that the church at Phillipi was in his thoughts.  This is where we usually fall apart.  We simply don’t think about how many lost people we come in contact with every day.  Then, in verse four, we read that they were in his prayers.  Finally, in verse seven, we see that they were in his heart.  The lost will never be in your prayers and certainly not in your heart until they are first in your thoughts.

Make it a point to keep the gift of Jesus Christ in the forefront of your thinking.  Many opportunities are lost simply because we do not realize that we had them in the first place.

We hide God’s gift with our selectivity.

The way of salvation is exclusive (John 14:6), but the gift of salvation is not.  How can we be selective with the gift that cost Jesus Christ His life?

Sometimes we have false assumptions about who needs God’s gift of salvation.  We assume that someone is not interested or that they are already a Christian.

The person who looks like they have it all together is miserable without Christ!
The person who looks like they hate the world is screaming out for someone to love them!
The person who acts like they’re already saved could be desperately searching for truth!

We can also be guilty of a false acceptance.  We go out into the highways and hedges to compel peopel to come in, and then, when they come, we’re annoyed that they’ve taken us up on our invitation.  Do you welcome the lost in your ministry?  Or do you tolerate them?  Do you find yourself impatiently trying to get them to conform to your church family so they don’t stand out so much?  Or are you genuinely concerned with the transforming work of Christ in their life?

The name tag on God’s gift reads “Whosoever.”

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Romans 10:13 – “For whosoeover shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you’re hiding the gospel from someone, you’re hiding it from the wrong person.  Remember, the gospel is very personal, but it is not a secret.  Don’t hide God’s gift this Christmas season.

“If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.”

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