The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Gift We Can Give"
"We can in this moment remove an arrow of appreciation from the quiver of our hearts, and fire it into the heart of God from the bow of our grateful love and faith. Wondrously, something will find its way into Him that was not there before."
What do you give to someone who seemingly has everything they want or need? In earthly terms, this can challenging on occasions of gift giving. Of far greater significance, what do you give to the One who actually has everything?
"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1).
"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things, to whom be glory forever" (Romans 11:36).
In terms of possession and purpose, all things belong to the living and true God of Scripture. Of course, He presently allows devils and humans the freedom to live as if belonging to ourselves, with accompanying consequences in this life and forevermore. The response is real, and in the wonder of His wisdom, knowledge, understanding, power, and love, the Lord grants all conscious beings in His creation the volition to acknowledge Him for who He is as "the Possessor of Heaven and earth." Or, we can ignore the truth that "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Genesis 14:22; Acts 17:28). He fulfills "the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" amid all, with no one having yet solved the mystery of how God does what He does as His creatures do what they do. No less than the Apostle Paul acknowledged such a wonder to be "past finding out!" (Ephesians 3:11; Romans 11:3).
So what does one give to the One who has everything? Perhaps the best answer is that we acknowledge our Lord as the Possessor of all things, including ourselves. We gratefully give the gift of affirming who God is, and His singular place and position as the Creator of a creation that completely belongs to Him regardless of what any devil or human may foolishly contend. Such faith pleases Him, along with its accompanying devotion, praise and thanksgiving. Thereby, our Lord experiences emotions that would not be resident in His heart if we withheld our acclamation and adoration. In this sense, therefore, we can give to God something He does not have. "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy" (Psalm 147:11).
In terms of yesterday's consideration regarding praise, we can in this moment remove an arrow of appreciation from the quiver of our hearts, and fire it into the heart of God from the bow of our love and faith. Wondrously, something will find its way into Him that was not there before. He will "take pleasure" therein, the pleasure we can actually give to the One who has everything. The writer of Hebrews well knew this truth, and called us to join him in bringing something to the heart of God that will not be there unless we do…
"By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name."
(Hebrews 13:15)
Weekly Memory Verse
"By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." (Hebrews 13:15)
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