Your Daily Devotional for October 25, 2007

 

October 25,  2007

 

 

God's Purpose in Giving

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful."

 

1 Corinthians 4:1-2

 

 

A mother wanted to teach her daughter a moral lesson. She gave the little girl a quarter and a dollar for church. "Put whichever one you want in the collection plate and keep the other for yourself," she told the girl. When they were coming out of church, the mother asked her daughter which amount she had given. "Well," said the little girl, "I was going to give the dollar, but just before the collection the man in the pulpit said that we should all be cheerful givers. I knew I'd be a lot more cheerful if I gave the quarter, so I did."

 

Over the past few days we have seen that God has a purpose for each of our lives. He desires for us to be a witness for Him through both our actions and our words. He also desires that we be conformed to His image through sanctification. Today, we will see that God also has a purpose for our giving.

 

God gave His Son for us so we may have eternal life with Him in Heaven. He gave His all and in return, we should give our all for Him as well. God does not require that we die for Him but He does desire that we would find His purpose for our lives and fulfill it. One of those purposes is the area of our stewardship. As we see in our verses today, God desires that we would be faithful stewards of what He has given us. Today we will see three areas in which God desires for us to be good stewards.

 

First, we must be good stewards of our time. We have all been told that time seems to fly by, yet stop to think about that fact. Do you remember where you were in your life five years ago? Do you remember where you lived, what your job was, and what you did for fun? It doesn't seem like that long ago does it!

 

Now think about what you've done for God in those five years. How have you served Him, honored Him, and given your time to Him? I'm sure it didn't seem as if five years were going by as you were living it, but time truly does fly by! God has given us time to serve Him. No matter how busy your schedule is or how long your task list is, God still desires that we would steward our time wisely. We must make time to serve Him.

 

Second, we must steward our talents wisely. When someone says the word "talent" I often think of a middle school talent contest where children of all ages perform a special talent for parents, teachers, and peers. But God gave us talents not only to entertain others, but to glorify Him! Whether you can sing, play an instrument, work in a nursery, sweep a bathroom, or preach a sermon, God has given you that talent so you may honor Him with it! Everyone has a talent or ability they can use for God. We must ask God how we can serve Him and properly steward our talent for His glory.

 

Last, we must steward our treasures for the Lord. Nothing that we have is our own. None of us "earned" the money we have by ourselves. The job we have and the skill and ability we have to work was given to us by the Lord! We must realize that any money or treasure we have is already the Lord's and He desires that we properly steward it for Him.

 

Are you fulfilling God's purpose in giving? Are you properly stewarding your time, talents, and treasures? Time passes quickly so we must use the time we have to serve God. Also, we each have talents and abilities we can use to serve the Lord. We don't have to be the most talented to serve God; we must only be willing to steward the talents He has already given us. And we must steward our finances for Him and give Him what He deserves. Ask God to help you properly steward your life for Him today.

 

 

 

Daily Bible Reading

Jeremiah 6-8 • 1 Timothy 5

 

 

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