The Unopened Gift

Charles H. Spurgeon was a well-known English Baptist preacher who lived from 1834-1892.

On one occasion he was called to the home of an elderly woman who was bedfast, about to lose her life to malnutrition. He noticed a document in a frame on her wall. "Is this yours?"

She said it was and explained that she worked nearly 50 years for English nobility. "Before Lady ____ died she gave that to me... I've been so proud of it because she gave it to me... It's been hanging on the wall ever since she died 10 years ago."

Spurgeon asked if she would allow him to take it and have it examined more closely. With her permission he took it to authorities, who had been searching for it. It was an official bequest in which the noblewoman had left her a home and money. Here she had lived in a tiny one-room house made of wooden boxes and was slowly starving to death. Yet she had hanging on the wall a document the illiterate woman never read that allowed her to be well taken care of and in a fine house. The money was gathering interest. All of it belonged rightfully to her. Yet it did not do her as much good as it would have had she known of it earlier.

All too often the same is true of Christ-followers. Having never taken the time to read God's "love letter" to us in its entirety and in simple faith, we fail to receive for ourselves all that is rightfully ours as given to us by our Lord, Jesus the Christ. Everything He promised is ours for the taking: all the promises of the New Covenant (a more accurate title for the New Testament), all the promises of the Old Covenant that are ours as grafted-in branches on the Mosaic "vine," redemption from all the curses of the law of Moses that has been bought and paid for by the suffering, death, burial and resurrection of the Lord.

Study especially the 28th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, particularly the first 14 verses. No promise of the Word has ever expired ("this offer is available for a limited time only: hurry while supplies last"). Keep in mind that everything in the Scriptures is to be taken literally unless the Scriptures themselves make clear it is not to be taken as such. Do not be as that elderly woman, in bad health, powerless, in bondage, broke and on the verge of death before you discover the amazing gift you've been given as a believer.

All that God has said is trustworthy and true-- especially the parts in red which trump all else. If what you heard somewhere or what has been generally accepted run contrary to this, guess which is correct?

Take the document out, examine it closely, and unpack your gift. Live the life you were meant to live!