A couple of weeks ago, while I was on a road trip with a friend, the lyrics to one of the songs on the CD we were listening to struck me. They weren't anything I didn't already know. In fact, they really say something I've heard for most of my life.
The lyrics come from the song by Downhere called "Little is Much"
The lyrics are straightforward and simple, but also profound in what they say. They encourage those of who don't feel like they have much to offer that they just need to offer what they have.
I know there have been times in my life when I felt I had nothing to offer, only to be reminded that it's not how much we have to offer that's important - it's that we offer what we have that's important. God can take the little that we have when we freely offer it to Him and do many thing with it.
God isn't looking for people with lots of really great things they can do. He's looking for people who will faithfully offer what they have to Him to be used by Him. These are the people who have much in God's eyes.
What about you?
When you look at what you have, do you feel like you don't have much to offer?
Are you offering whatever you have?
In His teaching while He walked on earth, Jesus taught this same principle. In Mark 12:41-44, we find the story of a widow and her offering.
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and wathced the crowd putting money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coincs, worth only a few cents.
Calling His disciple to Him, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on." (NIV 2011)
This passage is usually and rightly often spoken of in terms of the giving of our money, but I think the principle from it can have application in the rest of our lives too. Just as the widow was praised for freely giving what she had, we are to give whatever we have willingly and freely.
What do you have?
What are you doing with what you have?
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
James 5:13-20 - Part 4
My Thursday post this week was skipped for a few reasons and this one is being posted a day early for the same reasons. Sometimes family takes priority over any other plans. This week continues in my reflections on James 5:13-20. Previous weeks's posts can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
James 5:17-18 says, "Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earht produced its crops."
That first sentence made me stop. "Elijah was a human being, just like us." I don't often think of Old Testament prophets as being the same as we are. I see them as super-human somehow. This is a good reminder for me that Elijah was just another human being - a person who came to be someone so significant because he followed God's call on His life.
Because Elijah believed God and followed God, his prayers were powerful and effective. That same thing can be true of our lives. Our prayers do have the ability to cause God to act. They don't guarantee He will, but it can happen.
The biggest thing I think about with these verses is that Elijah's prayers made a difference because he followed God and was obedient to God's call on his life. It wasn't because Elijah was something special or had some kind of a special power. He really was a human being like us.
James 5:17-18 says, "Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earht produced its crops."
That first sentence made me stop. "Elijah was a human being, just like us." I don't often think of Old Testament prophets as being the same as we are. I see them as super-human somehow. This is a good reminder for me that Elijah was just another human being - a person who came to be someone so significant because he followed God's call on His life.
Because Elijah believed God and followed God, his prayers were powerful and effective. That same thing can be true of our lives. Our prayers do have the ability to cause God to act. They don't guarantee He will, but it can happen.
The biggest thing I think about with these verses is that Elijah's prayers made a difference because he followed God and was obedient to God's call on his life. It wasn't because Elijah was something special or had some kind of a special power. He really was a human being like us.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
when life interrupts
Sometimes it seems like we can have plans of how we will do things, and then something happens that changes those plans. I had an idea for the post I would write for today, but I haven't had time to actually write it. Life threw a wrench in that plan on Friday. That really has become my topic for my post today. It's something I seem to continue to be learning - I don't know if it's because I'm stubborn and I don't want to learn or if there's something else.
Sometimes we make plans for things, even for what seems like little things, with the best of intentions. And then life comes along and messes up those plans. When that happens we have a choice in how we respond. We can get mad or frustrated that our plans aren't happening. Or we can choose to look for the good in what has happened that changed our plans.
It seems pretty obvious which choice is the better choice to make. Even if what happened that messed up our plans isn't a good thing overall, we can choose to look for the little bits of good in it. That makes life better. Getting mad because something in life got in the way of our plans isn't going to do us any good.
Sometimes we make plans for things, even for what seems like little things, with the best of intentions. And then life comes along and messes up those plans. When that happens we have a choice in how we respond. We can get mad or frustrated that our plans aren't happening. Or we can choose to look for the good in what has happened that changed our plans.
It seems pretty obvious which choice is the better choice to make. Even if what happened that messed up our plans isn't a good thing overall, we can choose to look for the little bits of good in it. That makes life better. Getting mad because something in life got in the way of our plans isn't going to do us any good.
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