Men have given many gifts to each other down through the ages, but in James 1:17 we read that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” and comes to us from God. The greatest of these gifts is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the redemption He has purchased for us. In speaking to the sinner-woman at Sychar’s well, our Lord drew a picture, contrasting the barrenness of her own life with the refreshing joy of salvation, saying:

“If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water… Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst…” (John 4:10-14).

By nature we are all sinners, but by the grace of God we all may be saved.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

“For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9).

Thus St. Paul speaks of “the gift of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:7) and constantly emphasizes the fact that salvation is a free gift.

But a gift is not possessed until it is accepted. Thus the Apostle, in Rom. 5:17, refers to those who “receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.” Those who receive Christ and the salvation He has wrought for them, find it natural to exclaim with Paul-

“THANKS BE UNTO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT!” (II Cor. 9:15).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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