Who's on First?

11 August 2014

Being a Christian means that you hand over your life to God, putting Him in charge, first place in your life, being the One you will look to for wisdom and guidance.  "Lord I make a full surrender".  What does that mean in this day and age?  Does life today allow us to truly put God first is is there no longer room for God at the top of our lives and He has gradually or maybe quite quickly slipped way down the ladder?

Take a moment to take stock of your life thinking of all the different aspects and decide where does God really sit.

Time

Talents

Treasures

We are so busy these days.  What time is there for God?

We all have gifts and talents that God has given us.  Have they been handed over to Him for His use or are we being a bit selfish?

What about the one that seems to cause most angst.  Treasures or lets say money.  Do you give to God first from what you have or is there a fear that if you do that there won't be enough?  From the many people I've spoken to about this topic I think fear would be the number one thing that stops people from giving to God first - giving God a tithe or 10th of your income can be very difficult because we really do have to surrender all.  Its easier to sing than to do sometimes but many have sung about making a full surrender to God and giving our all to God.  But when it comes to the crunch, can we do it?

The wonderful thing is that God assures us over and over again in His word that He is our provider.  That if we put our faith in Him He will provide for our needs.  I'm not saying you'll get a couple of houses and cars and be living the high life.  That is not what its about.  Sometimes our faith will be tested in this.  But God will provide.

God is the owner of everything.  (God says) "Every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills...and the creatures of the field are mine...the world is mine, and all that is in it." Psalm 50:10-12.  Brian Kluth reminds us that "if we belong to Christ, it's logical that everything we have truly belongs to Him.  When we give to God, we are just taking our hands off what already belongs to Him."

If this is something that you struggle with, then I would love to have the opportunity to speak with you and provide you with some really helpful information which is most certainly Biblically based.  When we take our grip off something, there is freedom.  You can have freedom in your finances when you allow God to have first place and surrender to Him.

May God bless you.  Look forward to hearing from you.

Christine Dickson (Major)

christine.dickson@aue.salvationarmy.org