What can you Give

It is now January 2016 and Christmas 2015 is now a memory. For the Salvation Army Christmas is a very busy time of year and so it was for Ripley Corps with various activities, Christmas Fayre, singing carols and sharing the truth of Christmas in various places, Christmas parties. Making up Christmas hampers and toy parcels for the less fortunate in our community and a host of other things. 

The home league, went out for a meal as well as having a ‘fuddle’ at the hall where we shared food and fellowship together and thought about the greatest gift that was ever given. 

One of the carols we sang was in the Bleak Mid Winter, the last first being:

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Major Tim asked us if we had given Jesus our heart, for when we do then we have given Him our all.

The Home League since March have had once a month a shoebox shop, 

various toys, stationary, toiletries etc were donated to the shop that the ladies could buy to put in a shoebox for the Operation Christmas child Appeal. The money raised from the shop goes into the Home League Helping Hands Appeal. We had been thinking at past meetings about love, and how whatever we do if we don’t do it with a motive of love for the Lord Jesus and the people we are doing it for then it is in vain. 

But when we love the Lord, then we love others and are prepared to help others. Giving in love can have far reaching effects that we may never know about. A shoebox given to a child in the name of Jesus, says a lot to the receiver. We may never know what happened to the child who received our box but Jesus does, we don’t have to know the end result all He asks of us is that we give from the heart. The greatest gift of Christmas is the Lord Jesus Christ who is God manifest in the flesh. He gave His life for us, He paid the debt for our sin that we might be forgiven, we can never repay that debt of love but we can show others the love of Jesus in a simple way like filling a shoebox with goodies for a child. You can find our more about Operation Christmas child here: OCC

Christmas may be over but the gift of God's love is with us everyday when we come to know 

Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.