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A word of hope
If God exists, he's got bigger things to be concerned with than anything we can give him, surely? Think again, says Phenella Harvey
So, it's Jesus's birthday....well, what do you give someone who already owns everything? And that's not surprising since he must have created it all in the first place!
But what can we give to God?
As I was pondering this I remembered two familiar stories from the Bible. In the first, Jesus and his followers are at the temple, watching people giving their money to the treasury box. They watch as many rich men make a show of dropping in a lot of money. As they are about to go, suddenly a little old widow comes by with two small coins to give in to the box. Jesus watches this and says to his followers, "I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering than the others. For the others put in what they had to spare from their riches, but she, poor as she is, put in all she had." Jesus noticed her, and she has been famous ever since. It is not how much you give, but giving sacrificially out of love that counts with him.
The second is the story of how Jesus fed a huge crowd of well over five thousand people that had gathered to listen to him. Later in the afternoon, they were all tired and hungry. Jesus asked, "Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?" No one had a clue! One said, "There is a boy here with his lunch: five loaves and two fishes, but they will certainly not be enough for all these people." The lad graciously gave up his lunch to Jesus, and Jesus did a miracle and fed them all with 12 baskets left over!
I find these stories such an encouragement. Sometimes I can feel I have nothing to offer God and that what I can offer him is so small it's not worth bothering. What difference could my few coins or my bit of food make?
But the amazing truth is, that God loves me so much that he is pleased with whatever I willingly and cheerfully give to him. When we give to the needy we give to him. It may be some money I've given to a good cause, it may be sponsoring a child in the third world, it could be a quick prayer for someone that I offer up in the day-to-day rush. Why not see what you can give to God this Christmas, and watch what he does for you?
Phenella
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