What Good Gifts Teach Us About God's Love

This entry is part 4 of 10 in the series Getting to Know Jesus

A couple years ago I took an online marriage enrichment class and as part of the class, we took an online quiz about our 5 Love Languages. I learned about my own love language and that of my husband, and even more important I began to reflect on the good gifts God has given me. As we dig into Chapter 3 of Getting to Know Jesus, let’s stop to consider what good gifts teach us about God’s love.

What are the 5 Love Languages?

The 5 Love Languages, by Gary Chapman, is a book that explores the concept that each of us has a primary love language and we feel most loved when others express affection to us using our love language.

The 5 Love Languages are: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch.

Take the Quiz Here to discover your primary love language.

All of us enjoy all the love languages, but most of us have 1 or maybe 2 primary ones.

We tend to love other people in what is our primary love language, even if it’s not their primary love language, so it’s really useful to find out what the top ones are for our spouse, children, and other important people in our lives.

What is your primary love language?

(Mine are Words of Affirmation and Physical Touch.)

Who Loves Presents?

Even though Receiving Gifts is not my personal top love language, it is for a couple members of my family. It’s important to remember that for people who Receiving Gifts is a key love language, this does not mean they are vain or shallow people who only want more and more stuff.

Rather, for them, when someone gives them a gift, they are touched by the time and special attention involved in the careful selection of a gift meant just for them. It can be a favorite candy bar on a pillow or a movie ticket tucked into a teen’s backpack. Gifts show love by the thought and preparation.

Gifts show us the generosity of the giver.

Getting to Know Jesus: Using the Six Core Teachings of the Bible to Grow in a Deeper Relationship with Jesus The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts The 5 Love Languages of Children: The Secret to Loving Children Effectively

What Good Gifts Teach You About God’s Love

We learn about God’s generosity from the gifts He gives us.

The absolutely greatest gift from God is salvation. We receive salvation by trusting that Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins when he died on the cross, and someday we will be able to have eternal life with Him. This is a free gift and there is nothing we can do to earn this gift.

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:11

God also graciously gives us all the blessings we have in life. In our humanness, we tend to think of the good we get as what we deserve or earn. Yet every blessing is a gift from God the Father, who loves and cares for us.

This week in the online Bible study of from the book Getting to Know Jesus we are studying The Apostle’s Creed, and the first article which focuses on God the Father.

Gifts tell us about the heart of God.

Consider what we are told in the book of James.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 1:17

When we recognize that everything we have in life is a gift from God, our attitude shifts to one of gratitude. God loves us as a Father who enjoys pouring out rich blessings onto our lives. We respond with thanksgiving and praise.

Getting to Know Jesus Online Bible Study

Much of our discussion will take place in our Getting to Know Jesus Facebook group. Come and join us there for new discussion weekly.

While you are welcome to join in the discussion no matter what, I encourage you to purchase the book and read along for maximum benefit. You can purchase the book Getting to Know Jesus here in print or Kindle version.

Each week I’ll be posting a blog post digging deeper into one aspect of the readings, as well.

How do gifts you have given and received teach you about God’s love?