The Overflow For God

Please e-mail me with any comments or if you use any part of this at your church at Mail4ChrisR@aol.com. I would love to hear about it. God Bless! - Chris

In April, Renee, Bethany, and I visited our family in Kentucky. This was the first time my grandmother had seen Bethany. Being in her home brought back many childhood memories.

As a child I used to spend a few weeks of my summers at my Grandma’s farm in Southern Kentucky. She owned cows and chickens that we would feed daily. I was able to learn how to water-ski on a lake nearby her home. And fishing was one of my favorite things to do while visiting with “Mimi.” There is a small pond on their land just by the house. I spent many days on the banks of this pond waiting for a fish to bite that worm.

Just beside the pond was a small stream, which contained lots of little critters to play with. I remember that during the rainy season, both the pond and the brook, would be filled to the brim with clean and pure water. But it was in the dry season the difference in their nature really showed up. The stream, constantly flowing to water the banks along side its course, still kept pure and sparkling. The brook continued to draw from the underground springs at its source and gave freely as it went along. Now, the pond was quite the opposite. It neither received nor gave. Hoarding up its precious moisture, parts of its waters became foul and stagnant. It looked rotten with a green film floating on its top.

This is the lesson Jesus was trying to teach: “Give, and it will be given to you,” (Luke 6), “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt. 10). Jesus also explained to His disciples, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven … for where your treasure is there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6). You see we gain by giving and lose by keeping.

When we take time to consider our blessings of time, talent, money, service, and prayers, we realize that we are called to share these through our church. Our commitment makes our church’s ministries possible. Gratitude to God is a significant sign of our spiritual health.

We should not give to the church simply to “support the budget” or “pay our dues.” Giving to God, through our church, must be done with an attitude of thankfulness. Only then will the giver truly experience joy in letting go. With this kind of gratitude, we will understand that what we give back is truly a gift.

When we focus on sharing our blessings we are reminded that all that we have belongs to God, not to us. What we have is only under our control for a short time and we are called to be good stewards. The basis for Christian stewardship is the relationship between God and us. God has put us in charge of the world, and He expects us to use all that we have to accomplish the mission of Jesus Christ. “Thy kingdom come” is not just a prayer of words, but of tangible deeds.

After sharing our blessings, like the stream that watered it shores, we will see that we will have maintained and increased our own purity. The blessings we receive will flow from their source, God, in such an abundance that it will overflow all around us.