A few years ago, 2004, I was shopping in a local small grocery store. I had the two grand children with me that I was raising. As I finished shopping and went to the register the boys were still grabbing and asking "can I get this?" "can I get that?" and I was still saying no, our budget was very tight.
When my groceries were rung up by the lady at the register she told me the total and an older man standing there just visiting with her spoke up and said "I want to pay for that for you, please" No! I replied (thinking all kind of things), he said, "please The Lord has blessed me with money and I love to help my neighbors, the more I give the more the Lord sends to me. I have too much money", "I know how hard is to raise two kids and I would like to give you $100 to help you out". Absolutely not! I thought he was nuts and a pervert and as I left I held on to the boys and watched to insure this crazy man didn't follow us to the car and home.
The cashier helped me to the car and explained, "he really is a nice man and he helps a lot of people and he was sincere about helping you". I just got into the car and left as quickly as I could. It actually scared me.
It was two years later, sitting in church that the memory flooded back. My pastor was preaching about how most people think that the things God blesses us with are like rewards about how much they trust God. It's not he said, it's about how much God can trust you.
There are a lot of worthy, dedicated Christians who live in poverty, middle class and wealth. Why wouldn't God hand them all the same thing? It's all about what God knows He can trust you with. Wow, like a ton of bricks, I remember sitting there and being flooded with the memory of this man and a kind of knowledge that overwhelmed me.
You don't 'earn' salvation, you don't 'earn' God's blessings either. You are open to them and you use them for God's purpose and He gives you more blessings to use for His purpose. God gives you money when He can trust you to do His will with His money. He gives you a task when He can trust you to follow His will with it. It was like a bolt of lightening and it all made sense to me. I was looking for the wrong things, for the wrong reasons, with the wrong attitude. And I suddenly felt so blessed that I had met that man and God had made it clear to me by example.
I felt so enlightened, I listened to every word he said and wanted more. I went home and re-read the scripture and was just amazed all day. I learned something really knew for me and really important to me, I had never considered that perspective. I believe it's true God gives us what He can trust us with, that can be a great deal or not so much in material things, it can be peoples lives or peoples emotions. It can be their hunger for food or His word but He always gives us what we need and blesses that and multiplies it when we let Him and follow His will so that He knows He can trust us with what He hands us.
When my groceries were rung up by the lady at the register she told me the total and an older man standing there just visiting with her spoke up and said "I want to pay for that for you, please" No! I replied (thinking all kind of things), he said, "please The Lord has blessed me with money and I love to help my neighbors, the more I give the more the Lord sends to me. I have too much money", "I know how hard is to raise two kids and I would like to give you $100 to help you out". Absolutely not! I thought he was nuts and a pervert and as I left I held on to the boys and watched to insure this crazy man didn't follow us to the car and home.
The cashier helped me to the car and explained, "he really is a nice man and he helps a lot of people and he was sincere about helping you". I just got into the car and left as quickly as I could. It actually scared me.
It was two years later, sitting in church that the memory flooded back. My pastor was preaching about how most people think that the things God blesses us with are like rewards about how much they trust God. It's not he said, it's about how much God can trust you.
There are a lot of worthy, dedicated Christians who live in poverty, middle class and wealth. Why wouldn't God hand them all the same thing? It's all about what God knows He can trust you with. Wow, like a ton of bricks, I remember sitting there and being flooded with the memory of this man and a kind of knowledge that overwhelmed me.
You don't 'earn' salvation, you don't 'earn' God's blessings either. You are open to them and you use them for God's purpose and He gives you more blessings to use for His purpose. God gives you money when He can trust you to do His will with His money. He gives you a task when He can trust you to follow His will with it. It was like a bolt of lightening and it all made sense to me. I was looking for the wrong things, for the wrong reasons, with the wrong attitude. And I suddenly felt so blessed that I had met that man and God had made it clear to me by example.
I felt so enlightened, I listened to every word he said and wanted more. I went home and re-read the scripture and was just amazed all day. I learned something really knew for me and really important to me, I had never considered that perspective. I believe it's true God gives us what He can trust us with, that can be a great deal or not so much in material things, it can be peoples lives or peoples emotions. It can be their hunger for food or His word but He always gives us what we need and blesses that and multiplies it when we let Him and follow His will so that He knows He can trust us with what He hands us.
From the most simple or delicate task to the most difficult and costly He has to be able to trust us!
WOW! I'm still amazed that He could trust me with anything, anything.
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