Zahra is an incredibly talented person. When I heard about her, I thought of Dorcas, also called Tabitha, in Acts 9. Dorcas was a wonderful woman believer, yet we hear so little of her record being taught today. Acts 9:36(NLT) tells us, “She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.” Zahra is the same. She’s a worker bee, always taking nothing and turning it into something creative and useful. She loves turning trash to treasure and is always giving her friends little tokens of both her talent and appreciation for their friendship. Her gestures are small, but very loving and special. It’s a shame that most do not view her or her gifts as the blessings they are intended to be.
We overlook the small things, and this causes us to miss out in a great way. Most of us are far too focused on what society says should be meaningful and grand, and we look down on things that are outside of society’s standards. I have friends and relatives that only wear designer and top name brands. They call themselves ‘sneaker heads’ and ‘designer name fanatics.’ They make no excuses for spending above their means to acquire these expensive wears. This is the lot where they cast their expectation and standard, as if the brand can add to them more than it takes away.
Every choice we make is consequential. There are many who would like nothing better than to ignore this reality. In their minds, doing so allows them to continue practicing the kind of superficiality that has captured the focus of most. Our choices are important because they are progressing us to a place that isn’t fully apparent from where we stand. It is the future that God has told us about in 1John 3:2-3(NLT). This passage states, “2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. 3 And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.”
Our choices indicate whether we believe 1John 3:2-3 and are committed to do as it says and keep ourselves pure. God would not tell us to do something of which we are incapable of executing. We can be pure in our heart’s intentions and thoughts because He has sent Christ to show us how, and He’s given us His Spirit to lead and guide us. Because of the sacrifice of Christ, glory to God that we can be pure in our desire to please our Heavenly Father. We can also be pure in our love towards Him. We know this because Psalm 19:9(NLT) tells us, “Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever.”
Affirming our love and faith in God and expressing gratitude for our sonship in Christ is what our choices are all about. Our choices demonstrate that we are either well on our way to the place God has destined us to be or our choices reveal that we are in effect still lost. They indicate if we are still clinging to things that have us fooled. These are things that amount to absolutely nothing, but they are tricking us into believing they are something. As with the case of many that have received Zahra’s gifts, we are often fooled into focusing on the trinket and not on the love and kindness that went into making it.
Nothing we do for God will go unrewarded. As we look at our lives, our faith in this truth is an important measuring stick. Many of us complain that we’re not hearing from God, that He isn’t answering us or our prayers, and that our lives are far from what we hoped they’d be. We think it is God’s fault, and we blame Him for being unresponsive, for not doing enough for our happiness. The truth is that He’s finished a complete work for our happiness through Christ. Nothing was left undone. Jesus Christ made it possible for us to live a more than abundant life. He’s presented us with everything necessary to achieve that which we were purposed to carry out. Our part is one of reflection and accountability. We must take a good long look at how we have or have not demonstrated our gratitude and faith in what God has done for us through Christ.
2Corinthains 13:5(NLT) commands, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves.” God challenges us to look at ourselves and to be honest in our assessment. Our response to Heavenly Father is the actions we take to show Him praise, faith, and thankfulness. If our response to God has been lacking in earnestness and gratitude, the landing trip we’ve created will be too small for the blessing we’ve prayed to receive. Therefore, our response to God should always be the first place we look whenever it appears that we’re living beneath our privilege.
Do we take the gifts of God for granted, or have we used them to be a blessing to others? Have we allowed the world to shape and mold how we think, or are we renewing our minds to what God says in His Word? Are we trying to measure up to what society thinks is the best, or do we trust that submitting ourselves in holy and Godly reverence to Christ is the best? Are we building our lives on the foundation that Christ provided? Because our sole purpose for being on this earth is to realize with all his light and loveliness that only the foundation of Christ will stand. He taught us in Luke 6:47-49(NLT), “47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
If we have made a habit of stepping outside the parameters of God’s purpose and plan, we will not be happy campers. Instead, our lives can spiral into one big ball of confusion where nothing seems to work out. When we’re in this place, a place where nothing in life feels the way we thought and dissatisfaction fills our days, a change in our trajectory is necessary. The only one that can help us do this is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
He teaches us in John 14:6(NLT), “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” This truth is robust beyond our grandest imagination. Society and the world try to tell us that there are many ways to get to God and to embody our highest, greatest self. This is a lie. Jesus Christ is the only way to truth and life, and if we miss this, we will miss life itself.
Again, in John 10:9, our blessed Redeemer declared the reality of his identity and told us, “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.” There is but one door, and our Master Jesus is it. We live in a culture where most do not believe this, therefore, they have refused to honor or align themselves with God’s purpose. They will not come into consciousness and wake up to the reality of their Christ identity. They continue to be out of alignment with God’s plan and purpose. The peace and joy of life will not cooperate with us when this is our choice.
Very often, what is needed in our circumstances is to have a change of mind and a change of heart, to see things, even the small things, as we’ve never seen them before. We need new eyes and a fresh vision so that we can see the love in those we have often overlooked. For many of us, this is what is missing, and we must seek God to find it. If we genuinely desire to respond to Him in love and faith, He will honor our prayers to see things as He sees them. He will deepen the well of our gratitude, so that we can heed His requirement to be thankful for all that He is and all that He has done in our lives. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Loving Zahra’s Gifts”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.