For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7
“What do you have in your hands, heart and life today? I believe you have enough to do whatever it is that God wants you to do, today. Not necessarily tomorrow. Today. Take a look around you. Take stock. What do you already have? Who do you already know? What gifts, talents, skills have you already been given? Use those. Today. But use them for God’s glory, because they all came from Him.”
Vanessa Hall in 1 August 2016 blog post entitled ‘Enough’ is a ‘trust’ word.
Hall serves on the advisory board of the CMA Standards Council. CMASC is the Australian equivalent to ECFA in the USA. It’s been a privilege for me to get acquainted with her. She’s passionate about trust, and in this post, rightly connects faithful stewardship and trust.
All we have in our hands, our abilities and resources, are gifts from God to use to make known His grace. Today, that means each of us has enough for whatever God has in store for us. As the parable of the talents reminds us, let us put what he has entrusted to us to work. Today! To do this obediently requires trust.
What stops us? We believe (wrongly!) the messages of the world. They are lies. In today’s NT reading above, it appears that the Apostle Paul had to combat such wrong thinking in Corinth.
One lie says, “You don’t have enough.” So fear of lacking immobilizes us to put what we have to work and even causes us to accumulate what we are supposed to be distributing for God. We forget that five loaves and two fish fed 5,000 people when put to work for God.
Another lie adds “All you have is yours and came from your own hard work.” This lie denies the truth that God gave us the ability to be fruitful and productive in the first place (cf. Deuteronomy 8:18).
Father, forgive us for focusing on what we don’t have. Open our eyes to realize that what is in our hands, heart and lives is ‘enough’. Show us by your Holy Spirit how to put these gifts to work today for your glory. Strengthen our trust in You! Do this work in our lives I pray in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen.