2001-06-14 - It's All His

The Lord's Prayer, Part 10

Matthew 6:9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen

I used to believe that 10% of the money that I made was God's and the rest was mine to spend however I want. Then I read that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. Well, that created a problem! If I say that 10% is His and He says that 100% is His, one of us has to be wrong. Since He has never been wrong, I needed to rethink my thinking!

Oh what a joy to let Him have it all! He gives riches untold when everything I have is His. Because, everything He has is mine! He opens the storehouse and invites me in. He sets the banquetting table and calls me to "come and dine". What's even more amazing to me is that once I gave it all to Him, He's given some of the things that I had thought were mine to other people!

Then I read in 1 Thessalonians, "Study to work quietly with thine own hands, that ye may have to give toward those who are without."

Jeremiah 6:25-29 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

We Christians have forgotten that it is all His. We buy and store and buy and store like the rich man who decided that he was going to build bigger barns to keep all of his grain in instead of giving to the poor and hungry. He died and left it all here, anyway.

God gives us everything that we have for a purpose. Do you have more than what you need? You are holding it for someone else. Do you have less than you need? Someone else has it. God knows where He plans to give His stuff, it's our job to maintain a good stewardship in the holding of it.

The Christians in the book of Acts sold everything that they had and there was no one hungry among them. They understood the principle. Love gives. God is love. The kingdom is His. We say it in the prayer. Do we mean it?  

God is going to hold us accountable for promises that we make. Let's start living as if we really believe that this is His kingdom. He's going to require it from us at the end.

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Lord, Forgive me for holding onto what I cannot keep. I ask You to help me trade what I cannot keep for that which I cannot lose. Help me lay treasure on treasure up in Your everlasting Kingdom and not worry about what rust and moth can destroy. Help me to hold things in the palm of my hand because it is all Yours. Thine is the Kingdom. Let me remember that. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen

Sandi
sandi@cfdevotionals.org

http://www.cfdevotionals.org