leftovers

September 29, 2015

True Love Requires Giving

even-smaller-bug-light18 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,so that you through his poverty might become rich. 10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.  — 2 Cor. 8:8-11 NIV

​God is not impressed by the amount of money that we give.  He is impressed by the attitude that we have toward giving into His work.  We see this from the story of the widow who gave her mite. A mite is thought to be equal to about one half of one of our pennies.  Regardless of what the world thought about it’s worth, because of the attitude and the sacrifice the woman made, Jesus thought it was much more valuable than the gifts of those who gave out of their abundance.  God doesn’t need us to return a portion of the money He has allowed us to be stewards over.  He wants us to give out of love and a grateful heart.   He wants us to give with joy and hilarity because of our relationship with Him. Just as we give gifts of time and money to those around us that we love, we should offer up the best of both to Him. Would we invite a special guest to dinner and give him/her leftovers? We have the most special guest that lives with us all the time. Why do think that He is happy with our leftovers? He gave His life, we must make every effort to give Him the best of what we have simply because we love Him.
12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. — 2 Cor. 8:12
Post 09/29/-2015
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November 23, 2014

They All Ate All That They Wanted

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”​
10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. 12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.—-John 6:8-1​3​ (NLT)
​We​ can’t be quite sure how many people Jesus fed that day with five loaves and two fish. But we can be sure that what they had was more than enough. Everyone ate their fill and there were plenty of leftovers. Think what a blessing this was for the young boy and his family, five loaves had now turned into twelve baskets. What an amazing thing Jesus had done! Thousands upon thousands had been filled to overflowing and there was more left than when He started! When Jesus asks us to participate in His Kingdom work, we need to remember that He is the one who will accomplish the results, we are just the seed sowers. Jesus never sees us as lacking anything to do His work. He doesn’t see us as unable. When we, like Moses, procrastinate, complain and ask “what if…”, God has one question for us. The same question He asked Moses: “What is that in your hand?” (Read Exodus 4:1-5). Whatever we have will be more than enough. In fact, there will be so much, we will need to be careful not to waste the leftovers.
Post 11-23-14