The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives sight to the
eyes of both. ~Proverbs 29:13
You have heard that it was said, “love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” ~Matthew 5:43-47
Kathy and I had a conversation the other day about how God is so generous in blessing people with so many talents. We were thinking that, if we were God, we would wait to distribute gifts and talents until after a person comes to Christ. Our loving God doesn’t work that way. Think about it, every person that you hear singing, no matter what they are singing, is doing it because God gave them the ability, believer or not! The same can be said for all of the creative arts, painters, builders, you get the point. The conversation came up after we had finished watching the movie, “Social Network,” about Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. We started wondering what the world would be like if he were a Christian and used the talent that God gave him for Christ.
By ourselves, we are all the same. It is Christ that makes the difference. Praise be to God! Matthew says: “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” He scatters His blessings abroad, unconditionally. “The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives sight to the eyes of both.” The Lord does not make distinctions like we do. He blesses generously from what He has to give, because He loves all of His creation and wants them to enjoy.
However, something happens when we do come to Christ and that talent, or ability or gift is surrendered to Him. It becomes more than what we could have done with it. We distinguish ourselves from the crowd by riding on His shoulders and using what we have to shine glory on Him. We are using what He has given us the way He intended it to be used. Remember, He longs to have a relationship with everyone. He would love it if everyone devoted what He has given them to Him. That can only happen once they have surrendered to Him, which is another good reason for us to be willing to share. It would be returning more and more of His gifts back toward Him.
In addition, the love of Christ in us makes want to use our gifts to bless and love the world rather than just for selfish gain or from selfish motives. The movie freely admits that the foundation for Facebook was that Mark was jilted by his girlfriend and his first impulse was to embarrass her in public by insulting her on his blog. Then he expanded upon that as a joke by getting the pictures of all the girls on Harvard campus into a computer program that allowed people to pick which face was prettier! That’s not an example of love for enemies. A Christian would probably not have started Facebook on that basis.
On the positive side, missionaries are motivated by love for others to spend their talents in the ways that glorify God. Wycliffe Bible translators, Gideons, all kinds of projects run by people with all levels of gifts and talents, great or small, do it to glorify God and spread the gospel.
God has been gracious in giving of His creativity to all in one form of another. That is the level playing field. We rise above the field when what we do is wholly devoted to Him. There should be no competition between us. We’ve all been given what we have from Him. But those who are in Christ want the world to know Him. Our gifts and talents are tools that He may have given to all, but He has taught Christians how to use them to attract the world to Him, for His glory. So, see your abilities that way from now on. When you do anything for His glory, see yourself riding on your loving father’s shoulders and see Him smiling lovingly at the antics of His child.
Prayer: Thank You Lord for the gifts and talents, that You have given me to share with the world. May I use them to bless the world in which I live, spread the gospel message, glorify Your name, and even love my enemies. In Jesus’ name. amen.
Song: You Raise Me Up
You have heard that it was said, “love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” ~Matthew 5:43-47
Kathy and I had a conversation the other day about how God is so generous in blessing people with so many talents. We were thinking that, if we were God, we would wait to distribute gifts and talents until after a person comes to Christ. Our loving God doesn’t work that way. Think about it, every person that you hear singing, no matter what they are singing, is doing it because God gave them the ability, believer or not! The same can be said for all of the creative arts, painters, builders, you get the point. The conversation came up after we had finished watching the movie, “Social Network,” about Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. We started wondering what the world would be like if he were a Christian and used the talent that God gave him for Christ.
By ourselves, we are all the same. It is Christ that makes the difference. Praise be to God! Matthew says: “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” He scatters His blessings abroad, unconditionally. “The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives sight to the eyes of both.” The Lord does not make distinctions like we do. He blesses generously from what He has to give, because He loves all of His creation and wants them to enjoy.
However, something happens when we do come to Christ and that talent, or ability or gift is surrendered to Him. It becomes more than what we could have done with it. We distinguish ourselves from the crowd by riding on His shoulders and using what we have to shine glory on Him. We are using what He has given us the way He intended it to be used. Remember, He longs to have a relationship with everyone. He would love it if everyone devoted what He has given them to Him. That can only happen once they have surrendered to Him, which is another good reason for us to be willing to share. It would be returning more and more of His gifts back toward Him.
In addition, the love of Christ in us makes want to use our gifts to bless and love the world rather than just for selfish gain or from selfish motives. The movie freely admits that the foundation for Facebook was that Mark was jilted by his girlfriend and his first impulse was to embarrass her in public by insulting her on his blog. Then he expanded upon that as a joke by getting the pictures of all the girls on Harvard campus into a computer program that allowed people to pick which face was prettier! That’s not an example of love for enemies. A Christian would probably not have started Facebook on that basis.
On the positive side, missionaries are motivated by love for others to spend their talents in the ways that glorify God. Wycliffe Bible translators, Gideons, all kinds of projects run by people with all levels of gifts and talents, great or small, do it to glorify God and spread the gospel.
God has been gracious in giving of His creativity to all in one form of another. That is the level playing field. We rise above the field when what we do is wholly devoted to Him. There should be no competition between us. We’ve all been given what we have from Him. But those who are in Christ want the world to know Him. Our gifts and talents are tools that He may have given to all, but He has taught Christians how to use them to attract the world to Him, for His glory. So, see your abilities that way from now on. When you do anything for His glory, see yourself riding on your loving father’s shoulders and see Him smiling lovingly at the antics of His child.
Prayer: Thank You Lord for the gifts and talents, that You have given me to share with the world. May I use them to bless the world in which I live, spread the gospel message, glorify Your name, and even love my enemies. In Jesus’ name. amen.
Song: You Raise Me Up
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