Tag Archives: assets

I’m just a caretaker (Luke 21:3-4) December 30, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Revelations 18-22

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 21:3-4
Jesus: I’m telling you the truth, this poor widow has made a bigger contribution than all of those rich fellows. They’re just giving from their surplus, but she is giving from her poverty—she’s giving all she has to give.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

What does it mean to give all you have to God? Does He expect us to turn all our cash over to Him and go home with nothing in our pocket? Not necessarily, but sometimes He might. Does He expect us to live in poverty, not knowing where our next meal will come from? Not necessarily, but sometimes He might. Does God expect us to be so poor we live on the streets at the mercy of the weather and the other street people we meet there? Not necessarily, but sometimes He might.

That sounds pretty non-committal, doesn’t it? The point is, we must be willing to give everything we have to God. Recognize the fact that it all belongs to Him and we are only stewards of the things He lets us use from time to time. So how does He want you to use the things He gives you? For your own benefit and pleasure or for His plans and purposes?

Using assets for His plans and purposes doesn’t usually mean you will be penniless and poverty stricken. Using assets for His plans and purposes doesn’t usually mean you will not enjoy life and have comforts that others enjoy. But those things won’t be what drives you. You’ll find that if God decides He wants them, you don’t have any problem giving them up to Him when you remember they are not yours to start with. They all belong to Him and we are just borrowers. Things are on loan to us while we are here to be used for Him.

So if God decides He wants it for something, it’s His. He can do whatever He wants with it. That’s the hold we should have on things. Hands open ready to release whatever God wants. Houses, money, jobs, things, doesn’t matter. Whatever God wants, He can have it.

That was the attitude of the woman in poverty who gave her last penny in the temple. She didn’t have it to give, but she also knew that it wasn’t hers anyway. She felt God wanted her to give it that day and she put it in the offering. It became an object lesson for Jesus’ disciples and everyone who has read those words ever since. I doubt if she had any idea the importance of her contribution that day. All she wanted to do was please God with the assets He entrusted to her.

The wealthy that crowded past her to make a scene of the large offerings they made really didn’t make any sacrifice that day. They, too, became object lessons, but I doubt if they would like the way their example was used by Jesus that day. But He was right. They gave out of their abundance and it was a pittance compared to the woman who gave her all.

The world teaches us to hold on tight to everything we have. Life is short they say and the boys with the most toys win. But the world is wrong. What are you going to do with the toys in the end? You can’t take them with you. And something I’ve learned as I’ve grown older and maybe a little wiser. Every one of those toys take time away from something else. All of them demand attention. None are time savers. We sometimes buy them because they are advertised as time savers, but I have yet to find any time savers that really live up to their claims.

Sure I can mow the yard faster with a riding mower than a push mower, but that riding mower sure takes a lot more maintenance than a push mower. And I still have to get out the push mower or a weed eater or something, because the riding mower doesn’t get as close to the trees and shrubs and house. The same is true with just about everything. The time saver takes more maintenance or we will find more projects to use the time saving device on because it does such a good job. All it does is take time away from God or family or His plans. So, yeah, not such a great time saver after all.

Maybe it’s time to realize the world has it wrong. The simple life Jesus lived is probably the more satisfying life. Don’t get bogged down with stuff. Am I saying stuff is bad? No. There is nothing good or bad in stuff. It’s just stuff. But when it gets between you and God’s intentions for you, then the stuff is closer to God that you are. Just think about that a second.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anything between God and me. So I’ll chose to keep my hands open and let Him use whatever He entrusts to my care anytime He wants it. It’s His anyway. I’m just a caretaker.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Invest His assets (Luke 12:35-40) November 18, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Zechariah 8-14

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 12:35-40
Jesus: I’m not just talking theory. There is urgency in all this. If you’re apathetic and complacent, then you’ll miss the moment of opportunity. You should be wide awake and on your toes like servants who are waiting for their master to return from a big wedding reception. They’ll have their shoes on and their lamps lit so they can open the door for him as soon as he arrives home. How fortunate those servants will be when the master knocks and they open the door immediately! You know what the master will do? He’ll put on an apron, sit them down at the kitchen table, and he’ll serve them a midnight snack. The later he comes home—whether it’s at midnight or even later, just before dawn—the more fortunate the alert servants will be.
In contrast, imagine a complacent, apathetic household manager whose house gets robbed. If he had been aware that thieves were waiting in the bushes and what hour they were coming, he would have watched and he never would have left the house! I’m trying to tell you that these are times for alertness, times requiring a sense of urgency and intensity, because like the master in the first story or the thief in the second, the Son of Man shows up by surprise.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I do a lot of my shopping online. I admit it. It’s not that I’m an online shopping junky. I’m not. It’s just that I don’t like crowds much and I don’t particularly like walking all over stores and malls trying to find what I’m looking for when I can sit in my comfortable recliner and find the same thing for the same price and have it delivered to my door, often with no shipping cost. So I save gas, I save the frustration of rude people in stores, I save my aversion to large crowded places, I save my sanity and shop online.

One of the downsides of shopping online, though, is I sometimes forget to order things through a private browser so those companies get a hook into my email. Then I get the endless junk mail ads that tell me the next thing I obviously must have to make my life perfect. And always I need to buy it in the next four hours to get the best price or to ensure it is still in stock because the item is going fast. If I don’t get it now, it might not be available tomorrow.

The same thing happens on television. Get it now while they last. Call in the next hour for this special price. Of course, the same ad runs five times a day, every day for six months, so I think the one hour time limit is probably a little bogus. And the hook I really like, but can’t even remember the product, our phone lines are very busy so, if your name starts with A through N call today, if your name starts with O through Z, call tomorrow. But the next day, the same commercial runs with the same instructions. I guess if you’re name starts with O through Z, you’re just out of luck and can never buy the product or you ignore the instructions and call whenever you want.

Urgency. Jesus talks about urgency. But it’s not about gaining material things here. He doesn’t care much about the material things. He knows we need certain things to survive and wants more than that for us. I think He wants us to live above a subsistence level and lets us enjoy some of the comforts of life, but to chase material things just to chase material things is not in His game plan. We are to be caretakers, not owners of the stuff He lets us use. When we forget our position and begin to think we are owners of all the stuff around us, we are in trouble.

Remember, we are not citizens of this world. We won’t take any of it with us. It belongs here, but we do not. We are only stewards of the assets God puts in our hands and He wants us to use those assets for His glory and the good of others. So when He returns as the true owner of everything He created, He’ll want to see how we did in the use of His resources.

Just like 401Ks, the early you invest His resources in His work, which means making yourself available to Him, the better the return on His investments. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Besides, we don’t know when He might come back. It could be tonight or tomorrow or next week or on Inauguration Day or in another 2,000 years. We just don’t know when Jesus will return to check out what we’ve done in His physical absence. But a day of reckoning is coming and we will all be held to account for how we used His resources.

So, are you ready for His return? Have you been investing the assets He has put at your disposal? Not just the material things, but your talents, your experiences, your opportunities? You? He’s coming soon. Be ready.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.