A while back, a good friend of mine sent me a text out of nowhere saying that he had a gift for me. Puzzled, any understanding I had of grace and Theology went out the window, and my immediate response was “What did I do to deserve a gift?” Of course, he said, “Nothing.” Then the error of my ways set in and I realized that you can’t earn a gift. That’s why it’s a gift! My next thought, equally wrong, was “Man, I need to buy him lunch or something.” Now, there isn’t anything wrong with wanting to respond to a kind gesture with gratitude and being generous. But, there is something wrong with feeling the need to repay someone for a gift. Then it isn’t a gift. This kind of debtor’s ethic turns a gift into a financial transaction. It turns grace into legalism.
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