The Gift that Keeps on Giving

For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

-- Romans 6:23

Are you a traditionalist who prefers giving (and getting) wrapped gifts with colorful bows on top?

According to the analysts at Statista.com, you may be part of a dying breed. They report that gift cards are among the most requested items on holiday wish lists. In 2018, American consumers spent a whopping $160 billion on gift cards — both plastic and digital. That’s up from about $91 billion just eight years earlier.

Gift-givers and getters alike appreciate gift cards because of their simplicity and practicality. But card issuers love them even more because of something called spillage: the unused funds on the cards that yield huge profits for the retail industry. A recent Consumer Reports survey reveals that nearly 20% of Americans admit to having three or more gift cards with balances. And of the nearly $130 billion spent on gift cards in 2015, about $1 billion was never redeemed.

Why such waste?

Many people feel that redeeming those few cents-worth of remaining value

isn’t worth the hassle. Others actually forget their gift cards and fail to ever redeem a penny. And some retailers compound the issue by deducting service fees and deactivating abandoned or rarely used cards.

It’s easy to see that there are millions of gift-getters out there who fail to use — or even appreciate — the full potential of what they’ve received. But the issue is much greater than inactive or partially-redeemed cards from Starbucks or Target. In fact, there’s one prepaid gift of immeasurable value that’s available for redemption by anyone who’s simply willing to ask for it. But much like an unused gift card from a department store or coffee shop, many people won’t bother to take full advantage of it.

This incredibly expensive gift, of course, is the salvation Jesus Christ bought for us through his death on the cross. From the very beginning, God recognized mankind’s desperate need for a Savior to pay the price for the wrong ways we’ve lived our lives and treated others. And since that price was enormous, the Savior had to be of unlimited means and perfect in every respect. His solution was to come to us in the form of a helpless baby, grow up and live perfectly among humanity, and then teach and show the people how to live the life God wants us to have. Jesus was literally God in the flesh and God among us.

God was — and is — willing to do whatever it takes to bring you and me home. And he’s already paid our way with a costly gift purchased through the death of his Son, Jesus. It’s a price no one is rich enough to repay. But it’s also a worthless gift if we fail to open it, redeem it and make the most of it through a changed life that’s lived for him.

“For it is by grace you have been saved — through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God …” the Apostle Paul explains in his letter to the Ephesians. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

We’ve all received a priceless gift card from the ultimate giver. Now it’s up to us to untie the bow.