Gifts to Give

 

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

—1 Peter 4:10

Benny Jermaine came to my school as a kindergartener. He lived with a foster family in town. This winsome little boy, along with his class of five-year-olds, visited an apple orchard in the fall. The children were given permission to fill their backpacks full of apples. I’ll never forget that day when they all walked out the front door of the school during my bus-duty time, bent over, moaning under the weight of their heavy burdens!

But, Benny didn’t appear “burdened” at all. Instead, with a smile and open pride, he offered his apples to any adult he saw as he walked the long hallway to the front door.

Carrie Lindmore made herself quite a reputation as a third grade trouble-maker in the same school. She, too, lived with a foster family, who found her behaviors quite a burden. Carrie spent many hours in the school office!

I watched her one day as a teacher, who had learned of her birthday, bought cupcakes for her to give to her class. She literally skipped down the hall with “Thank you! Thank you!” and found her fellow classmates in the cafeteria and yelled out, “Guess what! We are going to have a party!” She couldn’t wait to give away her cupcakes to those who knew her rather one-sided reputation.

In ordinary circumstances, both of these children never had enough of this world’s goods, so that they could freely give to others. Once they received a gift, they used those gifts to make others happy.

I think God wants His children—upon whom He lavishes His great favor and His abundant grace—to give away the gifts He gives us. Of course, these gifts could include material goods, hospitality, or any manner of other blessings. However, God has given each of His children at least one spiritual gift—and, sometimes, several spiritual gifts. He has told us the purpose for which He gives these gifts. And, He expects us to give them away.

Now, some Christians may feel their obligation to offer service to others, but find no joy in it. This cannot please our Heavenly Father. Although the passage does speak about financial gifts, I believe 2 Corinthians 9:7 can likewise refer to any gifts, including spiritual ones, when the Apostle Paul states:

God loves a cheerful giver.

Likewise, in Titus 2:14 we read that we are described as:

… people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.

Also, when speaking of spiritual gifts, Paul, in Romans 12:11 exhorts believers to:

… never be lacking in zeal, but to keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

God has never given His people gifts for us to hold onto them, to clutch those gifts close to themselves, to enjoy the gifts, but keep them from others. He graciously and lavishly gives us His gifts, so that we might open our “heavy backpacks” and offer His grace, in all its forms, to anyone we meet along the “hallway” of our lives.

Let us thank God and enjoy the gift-giving!

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Please note: The names of the two children mentioned in this blog post have been changed to protect the identity of the real individuals involved.

 

 

All Authority

 

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

—Matthew 28:18

Within our school system, she had authority. “She” was the Assistant Superintendent and she served at our elementary school as principal for a year during the search for a new principal.

We enjoyed having her as much as she seemed to relish being with us. And, if we needed something—a new piece of equipment or a change in schedule, or a quick response to a question—all we needed to do was prove our need to her and she made it happen! Under her authority, we knew we had special favor. But, this Assistant Superintendant had an authority over her, who had an authority over him, who had authority over them, and so on.

What would you say about someone who declared that He had authority over everything? Well, Jesus made just such a claim. And, He proved it to those who watched Him and followed Him. If Jesus spoke peace to a storm, it happened. If He touched a sick man for healing, it happened. If demons tormented a little boy and Jesus cast them out, they were gone!

According to Scripture, Jesus wants all of us who claim His name to know “His incomparably great power to us who believe.” Here’s what the Apostle Paul said about that powerful authority, as recorded in Ephesians 1:19-21:

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

The Koine Greek word for the English word authority,—exousia—means “privilege, force, capacity, competence, freedom, liberty, jurisdiction, right, or strength.” God gives that same kind of authority to us, in Christ, when we come into the covenant of His love.

How do we use that authority? By praying in Jesus’ name and claiming His “all authority.” Such responsibility should give us great care when we pray and keep us from asking Him for wrong things. When we come to God in prayer and ask that He help us, we can be assured that, in accordance to His word and nature, we will ask Him for only those things which we believe He would will to happen.

Even in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for God’s will, as recorded in Mark 14:36:

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Jesus rested securely in God’s will and under God’s authority. Let us pray, therefore, and live as those who have the authority of Christ in our lives, so that we can go out as His ambassadors to a world dying in sin that needs the Savior.

 

 

That Which Remains

 

“Simon, Simon, look out! Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen the brothers.”

—Luke 22:31-32

Every summer on my family farm, my father and his helpers used the old, rattle-trap, noisy threshing machine on the latest crop of oats. Like harvesting wheat, the machine would beat the grain until the seeds were separated from the straw and chaff. The straw ended up as bedding for cattle, the seeds became feed for them, and the chaff, well, it just blew away. The value lies in that which remains.

While watching this process, we dared not get too close. Every time we did, the chaff would find its way into every crevice of clothing, between our bare toes, and even up our noses. Chaff—what a dirty and useless material it is. We cleaned and cleaned it from our bodies.

In Bible times, as we read about in Ruth 3:3, men would use sledges, heavy wooden platforms weighted down with stones and fitted underneath with anything sharp. These sledges, pulled by teams of animals, would ride over the crop of wheat on a threshing floor. The farmers would “winnow” the loose plants with a winnowing rake and the chaff would blow away.

The agrarian culture of Bible times provided plenty of illustrations for the writers of Scripture to use in teaching God’s truths. The Psalmist, in Psalm 1:4, likens the chaff to the wicked people who walked away from God’s truth:

They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

But, why did Jesus allow Peter in the passage from the Gospel of Luke at the beginning of this blog post to go through the sifting process with Satan in charge? Certainly Jesus didn’t place Peter in the same camp as the “wicked.” What was Satan’s purpose here? I am convinced that Satan wanted to destroy Peter, the future leader of the Christian church. But, God had a different plan.

I like the way that Beth Moore explains it: ¹

Satan’s goal in sifting is to make us a mockery by showing us to be all chaff and no wheat. Christ, on the other hand, permits us to be sifted to shake out the real from the unreal, the trash from the true. The wheat that proves usable is authentic grain from which Christ can make bread.

In preparation for powerful ministry, we often find that God puts His choicest servants through the hardest of circumstances. They learn what God considers “chaff” in their lives and then submit to the painful and brutal threshing process.

If God seems to be beating the “chaff” out of you these days, rejoice that He has called you to suffer for His sake. Trust Him to bring about His purposes in your life, so that you may become “nourishing bread” for others. Remember, the value lies in that which remains.

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1 Moore, Beth, Portraits of Devotion. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2014. P. 264.

 

 

Spiritual Sinkholes

 

“Therefore let any one who thinks he stands—who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm—take heed lest he fall [into sin].”

—1 Corinthians 10:12 Amp.

If you were driving along and came to the sinkhole shown in the photo above, would you try to drive around it? If you were planning to build a house, would you set your sights on the lot adjacent to such a sinkhole? Of course you wouldn’t. No reasonable person would do either.

Yet, we all sometimes dare walk by and peer into a pit like this and suddenly get drawn into it. Sin entices us when we least expect it and we fall into a pit of sin.

For example, we all have “besetting” sins that we get used to having in our lives. Some of us live close to a sinkhole called “Worry.” We find it so easy to step over the side and fall into this sinkhole. Others of us nurse “Grudges.” We stand too near the rim and suddenly have to catch ourselves—on the way down! Some of us get too close to the edge of a pit called “Self-pity.” Before we know it, we’re at the bottom of this sinkhole with no apparent way out.

How do we make it a practice to stay out of the neighborhood where sinkholes dominate the landscape? Some days we’d much rather build our house right there on the perimeter of a sinkhole of sin and enjoy our misery. Do you ever feel that way?

In her book, Jesus Calling, Sarah Young writes about this problem area. She explains the importance of this crisis of daily living. ¹

Be on guard against the pit… When you are weary or unwell, this demonic trap is the greatest danger you face. Don’t even go near the edge of the pit. Its edges crumble easily, and before you know it, you are on the way down. It is ever so much harder to get out of the pit than to keep a safe distance from it.

Sarah Young suggests that Christians with this problem—the enticement of the pit—should occupy themselves with praising and thanking God for His blessings. She also speaks of living close to God in order to put a distance between us and the pit. Her suggestions are both wonderful ideas.

Scripture itself, in the same passage as the verse at the beginning of this blog post, tells us that we have help available if we want it. The Apostle Paul writes these words in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

I hope that you will join me as we work together at staying away from spiritual sink holes. Comfortable though it may be to peer into them, whenever we put ourselves into that kind of temptation, we cannot please our heavenly Father. He has definitely given us help to overcome the sinkholes of besetting sins that tempt us.

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1 Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008. Devotional for February 23rd.