Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12 NIV).

"The greatest gift you could give the world is your intimacy with God." Sound familiar? As true as this statement may be, the reality is we can't give what we don't have! How can we expect to give the greatest gift the world could ever have if we haven't first fully received it as our own? Furthermore, how can we expect to give this great gift if we don't receive it on a regular basis?

Since time began, God's agenda has been the same—the passionate pursuit of intimacy with His children. Going back to the Creation account, we find that God created the heavens, the earth, day, night, land, sea, plants, animals, and finally on the sixth day, man and woman in His own image. Do you ever wonder why God created mankind (His children), and why we were given the special treatment of being created in His likeness? Perhaps it has to do with the fact that, while everything God created was amazingly beautiful and wonderful, He couldn't have an intimate relationship with a tree! Neither could He have an intimate relationship with a fish nor a mountain nor a galaxy ... I think you get the picture. God created mankind—you and me—so that He could have a unique, intimate love relationship with one aspect of His creation. It was the greatest gift the Creator could ever bestow upon His creation! And it's the greatest gift you and I can ever receive! So, God established His agenda on earth and His pursuit for intimate relationship with His children began.

It didn't take long before mankind messed up this incredible gift. It's kind of like the little kid who gets a new toy for Christmas and then breaks it just a few hours after opening it. Why it happened ... no one knows for sure. Nevertheless, it did happen and the result was that the intimate relationship between God and mankind was damaged. Sin entered the world and began to compete for the place of God His children's lives. But God's agenda wouldn't be thwarted. For the next several thousand years, God passionately pursued intimacy with His children. The Old Testament gives us a glimpse of how God was constantly pursuing intimacy with His children; sometimes His gift was received, and sometimes it wasn't. God was so passionate about this pursuit that at one crucial point in the history of His creation, God Himself entered the world and demonstrated to all mankind just how far He was willing to go—He suffered, died, then rose again so all of His children could see the full extent of His love for them.

The apostle John attempted to explain what it means to have this intimate relationship with God, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (emphasis added). When we're given a gift from someone, we have a choice to make: we can either receive the gift or reject it. The story of human history is the story of individuals who either received or rejected this gift. And the same is true for you and me. We have a choice to make. God desperately wants to have an intimate love relationship with us. Have you truly received the gift of His love into your life?

-Jim Vermilya

The greatest gift you and I could ever receive is the gift of God's love as given to us through an intimate relationship with Him. The greatest thing we could ever do with that gift is not selfishly keep it to ourselves but share it with others. It's true, "The greatest gift you could ever give the world is your intimacy with God," but the reality is, you can't give what you don't have!