Tuesday: Resources Available for God’s Family
God’s greatest gift to His children is Jesus Christ, who brings us the peace of forgiveness, grace for daily living and spiritual growth, and the hope of eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, NKJV). “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
Salvation, then, is the foundational gift because, without this gift, what else could we get from God that in the long run would really matter? Whatever we might have here, one day we will be dead and gone and so will everyone who ever remembered us, and whatever good we did will be forgotten as well.
Image © Review & Herald Publishing from GoodSalt.com
First and foremost, then, we must always keep the gift of the gospel, that is, Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2), at the center of all our thoughts.
And yet, along with salvation, God gives us so much more. To those who were concerned about their food and clothing, Jesus offered comfort by saying, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).
Read Psalm 23:1, Psalm 37:25, and Philippians 4:19. What do these verses say about God’s provision for our daily needs?
Also, when Jesus talked to His disciples about going away, He promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to comfort them. “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:15-17). “He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
Then the Spirit Himself gives amazing spiritual gifts to God’s children. (See 1 Corinthians 12:4-11)
In short, the God in whom “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28), the God who “gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25, NKJV), has given us existence, the promise of salvation, material blessings, and spiritual gifts in order to be a blessing to others. Again, whatever material possessions that we have, whatever gifts or talents we have been blessed with, we are indebted in every way to the Giver in how we use those gifts.
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As a kid, I liked to receive gifts. Toys were high in the agenda and I would make sure that those people with gift-giving capacity were informed about the latest Meccano construction set or rubber band powered model Spitfire plane kit well before gift-giving occasions arose. I did get some of those toys, but I have to admit that we often got a new shirt, or a pair of socks to replace the ones we got last year and now had more wool in the darns than in in the original socks
I was about 10 years old when my father sprung a rather sneaky trick on me. He would buy me a tool like a hammer or saw. I thought he was being generous but the next day, he would ask me to help him put up a new shed on the farm, or nail the roof back on the chook-house. His gifts were more than just utilitarian, it was an excuse to do things together. We had long conversations during those building projects about all sorts of topics and I was actually a bit sad when I turned 17 and left home. It was not because the gifts of tools stopped but because our time together had finished. It is difficult to keep up a conversation when you are in a different country - at least back in those days.
I like to think of God's gift giving in the same sort of light. Not only does he provide gifts of utility, he has cunningly devised a process where we can work together. That is really what salvation and redemption is all about. When we understand that, we have a little bit of an idea about what it means to preach the Gospel to all the world. It is more about organising time with God and one another than preaching to a box full of people.
Thank you for the warm, beautiful analogy about gifts, time and relationships with God and others, and God's love for us.
Of course, in different levels, but the "son leaving the house" feeling must have been felt by Jesus, when He left His house to come here, in order to complete His Mission! And what a Mission! One day we will all be together with our loved ones and our Brother and our real Father, and will never be apart! It's hard to describe the joy.
Psalm 37:25 stands out for me. Are Christians ever scrambling for resources and finding it difficult to meet their physical needs and that of their families?
And yet, when we look at the Jewish economy in David’s day, no one needed to starve because the Law provided that they could glean in the fields (cf. Exodus 23:11; Lev. 19:9-10; Deut. 14:28-29; 24:19-21; 26:12-15). God had outlined a system where there was generally no need to “beg bread” — it could be gleaned freely from the fields at harvest time. The landowner was to leave the produce in the field and vineyard for the underprivileged to collect. According to these laws, the owner of the field did not give these items to the needy because these items never belonged to the property owner in the first place. Rather, they were seen as gifts from God and the property owner was asked to merely refrain from interfering with God’s distribution of the produce to the needy. This leaving extra resources for the poor was more about justice than charity. Even thieves knew to leave grapes for the poor (Obadiah 1:5 NLT)!
Could we say that as a general rule, in a faith community ordered according to God’s law, those who live righteously will seldom find it necessary to beg for food? Acts 2:44-47 paints an amazing picture of shared resources within a faith family.
This lesson is all about stewardship. What we get, where it all comes from, to what purpose. And from among all talents that we are granted, the most precious is Jesus' sacrifice, by which only through Him we achieve reconciliation with our very first nature. Although now we are still incomplete, this work of restoration will end "in a blink of an eye", at His return! We need to be in movement!
So if "the gleaning" in the Old Testament was more about "Justice" than charity, why would Jesus go on to say that it was more blessed to give than to receive? Because we are not only to tell others about just what Jesus did at "The Cross" for us all but also share our food with them too and whatever else they may need materially that we can "Give" to meet those needs of theirs too. Jesus' command to us about this is not just "Justice" it is "Righteousness." It is a combination of "Charity and Justice and Righteousness."
I appreciate the simple clarity in which this lesson promotes the purpose for those who live by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have received the Spirit of truth to help us with knowing the Father’s Will and can confidently apply Its truth to everything we experience in life, knowing that ‘He does not speak on His own authority, but what He hears’. John16:13.
I think that the truth about who we are, once settled into our most inner being, relates the most important truth to those who believe – “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matt.6:33 ; also ”And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Phil.4:19
We all struggle with ‘righteousness’, but are comforted and encouraged to keep the faith. Once aware of who man is and the immeasurable potential each individual life contains, one's life-focus changes completely - 180 degrees. It changes from producing gain of things we consume, to establishing a life filled with 'righteousness' shared to produce spiritual gain in ourselves and others.
Yes, indeed –- "whatever material possessions that we have, whatever gifts or talents we have been blessed with, we are indebted in every way to the Giver in how we use those gifts.”
The writer of today's lesson says that one day we will be dead and gone and so will everyone who ever remembered us. I have believed in the imminent return of Jesus Christ since I was a child, first hearing it about 1956. I know we don't know the day or time of Christ's return, but if we believe it is soon, why would the writer or the editor want to somehow give us the impression that His return most likely would be 100 or more years into the future?
I think that the writer is trying to emphasize the futility of the material. (At least that’s how I am reading it.) Oftentimes, when we enumerate God’s blessings, we begin with the material, when God says that the #1 gift on your list should be salvation. Yes, God does and wants to provide for our daily needs for our pilgrimage through this earth, but what He really wants to do is bring us to heaven.