How are you going to spend God’s greatest gift?

If you are like me, your Permanent Fund Dividend has arrived or soon will. Alaska is truly unique as the only state with such an oil royalty check to residents.

Perhaps you have had the same experience I have had when people from other states bring up the topic of the Permanent Fund. Some can’t believe the Permanent Fund is for real. Others are willing to move to Alaska for that check, even though the amount of the dividend does not cover the difference in the cost of living in Alaska when compared to the cost of living Outside in the continental United States.

Nevertheless, Alaska’s constitution shows unique wisdom when it states, “the resources of Alaska belong to the people of Alaska.” This dividend really is a gift, in more ways than one. To paraphrase the wisdom of longtime St. John member June Liebing, “We didn’t work for the check. We didn’t earn it. The oil that provides the funds for the check was put in the ground at creation by our Lord. So, the permanent fund is a gift from the Creator himself.” That is what June believes and shared. I personally believe June is right.

The Permanent Fund is quite a gift, this year $878. But, let me share with you a greater gift from God. In 2 Corinthians 8:9, we are told about the grace, or the “gift” of God: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

God is talking about more than monetary riches in this verse. The riches that Jesus left behind so that he could share them with us are the riches of heaven. Jesus left behind the riches of life with his father in heaven to live in this world of sin and pain and death so that you and I could receive heaven ourselves. Because the son of God took on our poverty, because he died for our sins and rose again, we are offered the greatest gift of all. As we believe in Jesus, God gives us the riches of eternal life in heaven in the presence of God himself. Such sacrificial love and generosity is beyond measure. Who else has paid such a high price to give us so precious a gift?

In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for the material blessings we need today: “Give us this day our daily bread.” But in Jesus, God has given us everything we need for eternity.

How do you use your Permanent Fund? I know people who use this extra cash as mad money and buy four-wheelers or TVs. Some use this money to catch up on bills. My wife and I have tithed off our Permanent Fund from the beginning of our time in Alaska, and then put our kids’ money aside for college. For the last three years we have also saved our own PFDs so we can celebrate our 35th anniversary with a trip to Germany. The point is, no one I know throws the money away and doesn’t use it. It seems to me that people take extra special care to use this gift wisely.

When we see our life as “the greatest gift,” hopefully we take special care to use it wisely. In fact, at St. John we are now in a time of stewardship education emphasizing joyful giving. When we know that Jesus gave up heaven so we can live this life in faith and hope and have eternal life in heaven, how can we choose to waste our lives? Perhaps like me, you want to serve God and love others because you want to take special care to joyfully use the gift of life wisely.

Jonathan Rockey is pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer. Contact him at jonrock53@mtaonline.net.

Opinions expressed on the Faith page are the author’s and are not necessarily those of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, its staff or its parent company, Wick Communications Co. To submit a column or other news for the Faith page, send email to news@frontiersman.com, or call 352-2268.