17th December 2024

How impatient we were as children to discover what lay in those boxes under the Christmas tree with our names on it. My brothers would rip into the boxes from the biggest to the smallest, and I would stack them from the biggest to the smallest and gaze at them for a long time. I love to appreciate the gift to the fullest. It can drive others crazy that I can wait and wait because, after the opening, the mystery is gone. I do cherish the gift, but I like to get out of it all I can. I take as much pleasure in the giver’s giving, in the mystery, as I do the gift.

James had been talking about the rich and the love of some for money (James 5:1-6), and he basically said that they did not have to wait but took what they wanted when they wanted it. Yet, in this, they did not really receive pleasure. They did not appreciate what they had, and they wanted more. When is enough, enough? Being thankful for what we have is the door to having enough. When we are thankful for what we have, we receive the joy in it. How peaceful it is to not strive for more, but to enjoy and embrace what we have in the present.

James goes on to give us the example of a farmer waiting for the result of his hard work in planting his crops. I have watched my neighbours work throughout the night, and month after month care diligently for the result of their hard work. They had no choice but to wait. James says we are to be like that. What is James telling us to wait patiently for? It is not a what, as much as a who. This who is Jesus Christ, and he is everything we could ever want or need. Jesus is the perfect gift. In verse 7, James says we are to wait for the Lord’s coming, the return of Jesus. In our waiting for the answer to our prayers, for our needs to be answered, for our hope to be made evident, the waiting is well worth it. The early Christians, and all of us for that matter, need release from our suffering (v. 10) and we are reminded that even Job had innocently suffered, was relieved, and rewarded in the end for his enduring wait.

I was so pleased one year at Christmas with that small gift on the top of the pile of gifts that I ignored the rest. It was a Cinderella watch, the perfect gift in my eyes. My parents had to plead with me to open the rest of the gifts so that they could clean up after Christmas. Jesus is the most perfect gift of all. He is what we have been searching for all our lives. Though Jesus had not returned physically the second time, he was already near, he is near now. Jesus had already drawn near in the incarnation and would remain nearby forever. What more do we need if we already have the most perfect gift of all?

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