It was my birthday last week and, whether it is gauche or jejune (or both), I don’t mind admitting that I like getting presents. Call me worldly if you will, but God definitely created a world full of stuff for us to use and enjoy so I have no concerns enjoying some of that stuff. And I love receiving gifts from people who I can tell have really thought about what I might like and taken some effort to get something appropriate purely because they know I will enjoy it. That seems like a very godly thing to do too. Our God loves giving good gifts and similarly enjoys the gifts of his children. So, there, I like gifts, I like giving gifts, I like receiving gifts too, and that seems entirely godly and biblical.
But there is also a hierarchy of gifts. Let me briefly outline it from top to bottom:
- Things you didn’t know existed, nor that you wanted them, until you got them and you absolutely love them
- Things you know you wanted, but somebody has thought of you and independently got them for you
- Things you know you wanted, and you are happy to get them, and somebody got them at your suggestion
- Things you can see exactly why someone got them for you and you appreciate the thought. The present is fine.
- Things you can see exactly why someone got them for you and you appreciate the thought. The present is not welcome.
- Things you can’t understand why someone got them for you. The thought is not malign. The present is not welcome.
- Things you can understand why someone got them for you and neither the thought nor the gift is welcome.
You may quibble with my categories here. You may add some more of your own. But that you can, tells you that a hierarchy always exists.
The top tier – those gifts you never even knew you wanted until you get them – are absolutely brilliant. They are usually evidence that somebody knows you so well, perhaps even better than yourself, that they get you the kind of things you will love. The bottom two tiers are always disappointing. They are either the product of people who just don’t know you very well (made worse when you feel they should) or they are the result of people actively seeking to be unkind. In either case, it is not very pleasant to be on the receiving end. They are at best disappointing.
I think this idea of a hierarchy of gifts does help us understand something of the New Creation. Just looking at that list, what are the chances of anything in the New Creation being like points 6 or 7? Will Almighty God, the creator of the universe and the giver of all good gifts, really give us what we cannot comprehend why he would give us such an unwelcome thing? Will he really ever give us what is actually malign and intended to be something we will hate to make a point? Of course not!
But will the New Creation be full of things that we didn’t even know we wanted until we see them? I think so. I think the gold-standard of gifts will be there! I think there will be some things we know we want – mainly because God tells us in his Word it will be like this – but he has independently determined in his goodness to give them to us. There may be some things that we want and we have specifically asked God for and he will be pleased to give them to us. But I think God – who is a top-tier gift-giver – will inevitably give us top-tier gifts in the New Creation.
Personally, that really excites me. But then, I am childish and like gifts. A lot. But if a child of God can’t be childish I don’t know who can! And if God can’t indulge his children, even giving them gifts they didn’t know they wanted but they love when they get them, then who can? But I think because he is a good God who both loves his children and loves to surprise them, he will surprise us with the top-tier of all gifts.