What Do You Get the Person Who Has Everything?
What do you get the person who has everything?
It’s a question that’s stumped family members and friends through the ages. You really want to show them you care about them on their special day, but every idea you come up with is something your loved one already has.
Of course, you can try searching online for ideas. But if it’s anything like my most recent attempt, the list may be pretty lame: a drone, a bonsai tree, a monogram branding iron for steak, and a self-cleaning water bottle.
So what do you get the person who has everything? Are we even asking the right question?
There’s a story in the Bible about a man who had everything (or so it seemed) but lost it all. Every bit of it. He had nothing. If there was ever a time someone needed a gift, it was then and there. His well-meaning friends gathered around. But the timing just wasn’t right for ordinary gifts. He needed something much more.
The man who had everything?
At the destructive hand of Satan, Job had lost his family, his livestock, and his property. On top of that, he was suffering from a horrible and painful physical condition. (Read the full story here.)
His friends sat with him in silence, sharing in his deep sorrow. If only they had left it at that. But they felt the need to try to solve Job’s problems. More than that, they implied he was somehow to blame for his calamity, certain that God was justly punishing him.
But Job was a righteous man. His integrity was unassailable, and he trusted fully in God. But even he was beginning to wonder, “Why me?” and question God’s judgment.
But Job was about to receive the PERFECT gift.
God stepped in and asked him a series of questions to remind Job exactly Who he was dealing with—the Creator and Sustainer of the world. The Giver of life and of all good things.
When God finished His 20-questions game (actually more than 60), Job realized the ONE thing he didn’t have: a proper understanding of his Creator and Sustainer and an intimate relationship with Him.
“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).
Proud Job had been more focused on his own righteousness and accomplishments than with the righteousness and grace of the One who had given him everything he had. So he humbled himself before God and prayed for his “friends,” whom God had just given a dressing down for their own self-righteousness and presumption.
Because of Job’s newfound humility, God restored everything he had lost, two times over! But Job’s favorite gift of all was his new relationship with God.
What do you get the person who has everything?
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to find the perfect gift for a friend or family member you love: drone, bonsai, monogrammed steak, whatever. Knock yourself out.
But remember, all the gifts in the world can’t equal the one thing that brings true fulfillment: being restored to the One who created each of us in His image and wants nothing less than the best for any of us.
Maybe this next holiday or birthday, add to your gift a word of encouragement to get to know the Giver of all good gifts. Instead of just wondering what to get the person who has everything, commit to pray for the one you love to find true fulfillment in God and restoration to Him through Jesus Christ.
THAT is the perfect gift and one that keeps on giving.
Copyright © 2021 by FamilyLife. All rights reserved.
Since 1995, Scott Williams has been ministering to marriages and families. Since 2004, he’s been doing so as a senior writer for FamilyLife. In 2019, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, but by God’s grace, is doing remarkably well and is continuing to write for FamilyLife. Scott and Ellie live in Little Rock, Arkansas, and have seven adult children and four grandchildren.