Unopened Gifts
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23 NKJV.
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” – Luke 11:13 NKJV.
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 NKJV.
For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. – Romans 5:17 NKJV.
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. – Romans 11:29 NKJV.
It happened in 1970, Vicki broke off her relationship with her 17-year-old boyfriend, Adrian Pearce. While saying goodbye, Vicki gave Adrian a Christmas gift. Unable to open the gift at the time, because of being upset from the breakup he placed the unopened gift under the Christmas tree. For years, even after his marriage he placed the Christmas gift in its blue crinkly paper under the tree, until his wife finally banned it.
Even though the gift from his childhood sweetheart is not under the tree, Adrian still pauses for a few moments to take a look at the unopened gift every year. Adrian says about this strange tradition, “I kept it initially because I guess I had hopes that we would get back together and open it together. Now it’s just become a habit after 47 years of looking at it…” He is now thinking that he will open the gift on the 50th anniversary of the gift. (New York Post 12.26.17; and various news venues)
Certainly Adrian Pearce has a strange Christmas tradition! I’m sure his wife will agree with that! Adrian hopes that someone will find Vicki so that she can be at the 50th anniversary of the gift for the long delayed opening. So if anyone knows Vicki tell her to contact Adrian in Canada.
What about you? Do you have a gift awaiting the time when you will finally open it? Too many people have the gift of eternal life sitting unopened in their lives. As I have shared before, one of the saddest things that I sometimes hear when I share my testimony is the response of “I’m not ready yet.” Hopefully, they will not wait 50 years, or until it is too late, eternally too late to open the gift. Recently, a man that I had heard those sad words from passed away. Thankfully, a few years after I had shared my testimony with him, he told me that he had opened the gift of eternal life. So glad he didn’t wait too long!
Perhaps you have opened the gift of eternal life, but are there other gifts that God has for you that remain unopened? I waited until I was 40 years old before I began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you are still alive, it’s not too late to open the gift! Because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable! Those gifts are still under the tree waiting for you to open them. Will the year 2018 finally be the year you open the gifts of God?