Better Together预览

DAY ONE: RETURNING

What is it that God has put in your hand? I find myself looking around at my life, at the everyday blessings, and pat myself on the back. Thinking proudly, “I am doing pretty good!” Most of us would have heard or even used the phrase “self-made man or woman” when we think of what is in our hands, or some accomplishment we have achieved. The reality is that everything we have has been given, and despite our best intentions and efforts, we have all made use of what God has put in our hands. 

It is with that same mentality “it’s mine” that we can approach generosity. The truth is everything we have we have received from God. So returning it should be an easy process. Imagine handing your toddler a chocolate bar, letting them have a taste of it, and then gently asking them to return that chocolate bar back to you. As easy as it sounds, if you have ever met a toddler with a chocolate bar, you know that there will be a lot of angst, tears, and potentially some serious tantrums that ensue!

So often I think God does the same thing to us, he blesses our lives, provides us with the ability to get the things we need and then he gives us an opportunity to offer it back to him. 

The children of Israel left Egypt rich. God orchestrated a post-slavery severance package, by causing the people of Egypt, their captors, to shower them with treasures. The children of Israel had been slaves—oppressed and broken for hundreds of years. They went from having nothing to leaving Egypt laden with goods, with treasures, and with strength. They got to hold on to the treasures of Egypt, and now months later they have an opportunity to use the treasures they received to build the house of God. To take the gold, the silver, the jewels, the furs, the cloth, the dyes, the mirrors, and use them for their intended purpose, the treasure was to build the house of God. All that treasure was used to facilitate a meeting place between God and Man. A place that would communicate to the nations of the world that God was in their midst.

The truth is that everything in our hands is a gift from God. Collectively we can put the resources that we have plundered from the darkness and invest it into the building of the house of God. What is it that God has put in your hand? Maybe it is a talent, or treasure or time; regardless of what it looks like, God’s desire is that we would willing take what He has placed in our hands and return it to Him. 

What are you holding on to that God has put in your hand to be a blessing to others?