Scraps For Jesus

The Prophet, Isaiah, long ago drew a picture of the people of his day by

using the illustration of a man who fell a tree and used its parts in

various ways. With part of it, he he warmed himself, with part of it, he

used it for fuel,with part of it, he used it t cook his foor and after had

satisfied his physical desires, he then took the remains and made a god

or idol.

What he was telling the people of his day was that they were only giving

God the remains of their abilities; leftovers or scraps. (And in our days,

we would says scraps for Jesus.)

Of course we are familiar with food scraps. Which would you rather have, a

whole-cooked steak or just the bone and a few scraps? A chicken dinner or

just the scraps? A fish dinner or just a few bones?

It would be like buying yourself a 400 dollar suit and then buying your

wife a 2 dollar dress at the Good Will or like buying yourself a 20 dollar

meal and then buying your wife a 25 Krystal burger.

We live in a day where God had truly blessed you and I as Christians.

Someone Said, God has just emptied the blessings of heaven upon our lives

and in return, many of us are just giving his the scraps of life and

abilities.

In Phillipians 2:7, it says He emptied himself so we could be saved yet we

don’t empty ourselves for him. But instead we hold back and give our

best to other things. Jesus himself in Matthew 6:33 warns us about putting

God first.

Today, lets look at some areas in our life where we just give the scraps

to the Lord.

I-MANY TIMES WE GIVE JESUS THE SCRAPS OF OUR TALENTS:

The Best of our talents, our God given abilities are not used are devoted

to our jobs, to our social life, to our pleasures and then toss the Jesus

the scraps.

ILLUSTRATION: Harold H. Lentz tells the following story: "There was a man

named Luigi Tarisio who, when he died, was found to possess 246 violins.

They represented a lifetime of collecting. They were found stored

everywhere throughout his house ~ in the attic, in closets, even in

dresser drawers. But none were ever played; they were simply collected.

His passionate devotion to the violin had robbed the world of all the

music those instruments could have produced.""God does not want his gift

of talents to be idle and useless, producing no return. Each of us has

some God-given purpose in life with its accompanying ability. Be sure your

talent is making music in the great orchestra of daily life."

He should deserve our best because he gave his best for us; like Abraham

who was willing to give his best, his son.

We sing the song’ “Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe”

but the devil had duped us into thinking that is not true, just give him a

tip your hat allegiance.

If we are not using our talents for Jesus’ glory it means we are

using them for the world’s glory.

ILLUSTRATION: #934-Man who said he had the talent of criticism? Man told

him, it needed to be buried.

The example of Amy Grant. In her earlier years, she was asked why her

record covers had sexy photos? She replied because they sell records.

It doesn’t matter if a big talent or a small talent, God needs it to

be used in his Kingdom work. Some would say I just don’t have the

abilities like some people do. This might be true, but use what you do

have.

JOKE-Story of two men talking, one was big, the other small. The small man

said, if I was big as you, I would go out in the wood and kill the biggest

bear in the woods. The big man responded by saying, there are some little

bears in the woods to.

II-MANY TIME WE JESUS THE SCRAPS OF OUR TIME:

Time is the new most valuable commodity. It has replaced money as the

number one need, because you can always make more money, but you can't

make more time. When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.

"If You Are 35, You Have 500 Days to Live." Its thesis was that when you

subtract the time spent sleeping, working, tending to personal matters,

hygiene, odd chores, medical matters, eating, traveling, and miscellaneous

time-stealers, in the next thirty-six years you will have roughly the

equivalent of only five hundred days left to spend as you wish. It is no

wonder that Psa.90:12 says, "So teach us to number our days,

ILLUSTRATON: How we spend a lifetime If God granted you 70 years of life,