Giving the Gift that God Will Like, or What's This Time of Year About?

As Jews celebrate Hannukah and Christians do Christmas, most people look for a day off or hope to benefit commercially from this time that's meaningless to millions of others. What's the point? Is it all vanity as Solomon said?

Religion is gratitude if we are doing it right. If we don't see that we came into the world naked and that 99% of everything we have was given to us, we are on an ego trip that won't last. Even “self-made millionaires” were given 99% of what they have—this included mental abilities to think, plan and do. And if they lived well, their prosperity came from laws they didn't invent in a world they didn't create.

This season is honored by religious people because God is the real Giver. In the book of beginnings, Abraham says, “God will provide Himself a lamb.” Genesis 22:8. It's God who pays the price for man's reconciliation and it's so huge that it makes no sense to the business world.

The Bible offers further explanation in Isaiah 53:3-7 with a concept that's unbelievable, except the Bible puts a premium on belief or faith. We live can life better and enjoy it more if we believe the Bible, that God loves us and that He has a wonderful plan for us.

After all, the Bible says we're made in His image (Genesis 1), and He has made every provision necessary for this life and what's beyond. Wouldn't that be worth discovering? Thanksgiving may be the most religious of our holidays.

Dr. Hans Selye, father of the modern stress theory, reminds us that gratitude is the most healing of all emotions. That being so, what we do from a motive of gratitude for what God had done, what He is doing and what He promises to do for us is what He appreciates.

How we express our appreciation may be seen in how we treat others. Christ said how we treat others is how we treat Him, Matthew 25:40.

Efforts to earn a better destiny by “good works” that we think are as good as the next fellow, tends to create merit in our eyes, but that's meaningless with God who paid the ultimate price for our destiny.

If this life were all there is, it might not seem to matter so much as we compare our 70 or 75 years with someone else, but if the Bible is true, a choice not to believe is cutting ourselves short of what's beyond. And those who are familiar with the Bible seem to have an advantage when it comes to believing.