by
Dr. Jaye Reviere
When is a gift a gift? When is a purchase a purchase?
What is the difference between them?
When something is offered free of change and is ACCEPTED, it is a gift. The very nature of a gift requires it to be without price asked or offered.
When something of somerelative value is transferred from one to another for a price, in exchange for something of value, a purchase and a sale has been consummated. The very nature of a sale/purchase requires an agreed price and payment of the price.
The difference betweenthe two is as left is from right, as east is from west. They are mutually exclusive. This means something cannot be partly a gift but with a price tag.
Religion traditions all over the world offer many things. Many of them require adherence to a specific behavioral code as the price of what the religion offers. These sorts of religions can be called: "performance based" or "legalistic" if what they demand of the adherent largely a life pattern based on the law the religion hands down.
The traditions of virtually all religions require some obedience to religious law. This is a principle feature of man-made religions.
There is an innate yearning built into humans. This yearning is for a relationship with God. People have constructed all manner of religions with which to slake this thirsting for God. In the process, man is always at the center of the religion. Always it is the actions of man which determines the acceptability of the human before his or her god in all of these religions.
In Christianity this same sort of mind set creeps in. When this happens, Christianity ceases to be Christ centered and becomes 'man centered.' In the very earliest interactions recorded between God and mankind, as Christians understand God to be, always the actions of merit, the actions of worth, and the actions of meaning were on the part of God, not man.
This makes the Christian Religion significantly different. The actions in the practice of the Christian Religion which make a difference, which have a positive effect on the relationship between God and the believer are all God's actions. These sacramental actions are God doing things in the lives of humans.
So it was from day one. So it is now. However, and regrettably so, humans have innately within themselves this desire and drive to "do it themselves". We have in us the drive to perform in such a way we can earn the good will and acceptance we desure before God.
We have seen this through out the recorded history of humanity. Most people are not able to conceptualize any sort of religious experience or life which is not a rigid performance based struggle to please God.
Mankind clearly was given a unique place in creation. This unique place was to be in companionship with God the Creator … not out of having been constructed exclusively for this purpose, but out of personal choice on the part of mankind. This is to say, we were made with free will to choose NOT to be in companionship or to choose TO surrender our will to God and walk in companionship with Him.
First Man and First Woman, whom God had made to be in this state of totally innocent companionship with Divinity, made the choice to reject this status of companion with God. In so doing, they allowed rebellion and what is commonly called SIN to enter into the human race.
From First Man and First Woman the heritage of all humanity has in it this choice of rebellion and the resulting "sin" embedded in the human condition. This is our heritage. There is nothing we can do to erase this heritage. There is nothing we can do to mitigate this heritage. There is nothing we can do to overcome the effects of this heritage.
God saw, in His infinite knowing, the condition in which all subsequent humanity would be born. God saw we would all be helpless before His infinite justice. So in His infinite mercy, God devised a way we could be reinstated into the unique status for which God created humanity.
The infinite Justice of God demanded a terrible price for the reinstatement God desired for all His created humanity. The impossibility of human payment of God's just price for reinstatement was clear. So, God arranged a way He could pay the price in our behalf, offer and give to those who would accept it, the free gift of reinstatement into the unique status for which all men were created.
The problem came in when the rebellion in humanity insisted man could earn reinstatement if he would just obey all the law of God. The simple arrogance of humanity to assume it had the power on its own to achieve perfection is totally overwhelming. Still this presumption remains wide spread today. Humans still think they can please God and earn reinstatement into the special status with God.
This kind of thinking negates the whole mission of Christ. Christ came as the sacrificial substitute for mankind because Christ, being True God, could pay the price no human could pay. By paying this price for all humanity, Christ earned for all those who choose to accept the free gift He offers: reinstatement into the special status of companionship with Divinity.
Going back to what we have covered so far … rebellion and "sin" have separated humanity from God. This condition is the precursor to everlasting death and separation from God. It is from this Christ offers us Salvation … by Grace, Faith and not of our own doing. We simply cannot buy what Christ offers to give to us FREE!
