The gift and the giver

1 Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

I am yet to meet someone without desires for good things like love, a good marriage, good friendship, care, good food etc. If someone doesn't look forward to having good things like those, their view of God could be the issue. 

There's a teaching which prevailed so much in the time of John the revelator which advocated that all fleshy desires are evil. So men desired the spiritual above all else. No wonder religion has advocated that some of their leaders shouldn't marry. Others want you to think that having good things will actually compete with your relationship with God and therefore you shouldn't look forward to them. They feel these things will become idols. They say poverty, suffering and hardship is the lot of the Christian and that the more you suffer the more spiritual you are or the more you deny good things, the more pleasing you are to God. These things form people's thinking patterns actually and they deny them access to God's provision. 

I believe it is possible to have God and the good things in life. Having good things which God abundantly supplies should actually draw us closer to Him and not away. The gift can never and should never be more important than the giver. In fact if the gift is able to bring joy, how much more do you think you will get from the giver when you acknowledge Him as the source of it? One thus gets double joy when they know the place of the gift and the giver. 

When a man gifts a lady often, there are feelings that develop from the lady to the man. The same is true when the lady does the same to the man. It is said the way into a man's heart is through his stomach. Ladies who cook for their male friends who visit them appear attractive to the men. The gift draws you close to the giver, it makes you think well of him. Even when they have faults, your heart softens because of the gift. When there's strife between you and someone, send them a big gift on their birthday, the strife will disappear. Bible says the gift pacifies anger. 

The end of the gift is to receive joy and enjoy the relationship with the giver. Giving thanks for the good things that we receive thus flows naturally from the receiver of gifts to the ultimate giver who is God. Although your boss hands you a paycheck, the ultimate giver is God whom we acknowledge as the source of all things. The boss cannot turn out to be an idol if you overflow with a heart of thanks to God.