Daily Devotion for October 24, 2006

Giving Under Grace

 

"But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.  1 Chronicles 29:14 

 

George Matheson was born in Glasgow in 1842. When he was eighteen months old, his mother discovered that he had defective sight. In his early boyhood, by using strong glasses and a strong light, he managed to read; but his sight continued to fail. When he entered Glasgow University, at the age of fifteen-and-a-half, he was almost blind and had to depend on the sight of others. He was licensed as a minister of the Church of Scotland in 1866.

 

He wrote the hymn, "O Love that wilt not let me go," on the evening of 6th June 1882, when the lady to whom he had been engaged felt that his blindness prevented their marriage. In his own words, "The hymn was the fruit of that suffering." He never married.

 

In 1890 he wrote the hymn which begins –

Make me a captive, Lord,
and then I shall be free;
force me to render up my sword,
and I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life’s alarms
when by myself I stand;
imprison me within thine arms
and strong shall be my hand.

Over the past several devotions we have been thinking about different people and their response to the grace of God.

1. Count von Zinzendorf and the question posed by Feti’s painting of the suffering Christ - "All this have I done for you. What are you doing for me?" What is the response of our life to the grace of God given at such cost for us?
2. John Newton, the converted slave-trader who became both preacher and hymn-writer, author of "Amazing Grace". If we are living under grace, we will want to give our maximum for the one who has given his maximum for us!
3. Robert Robinson, the converted hairdresser who wrote "Come, thou fount of every blessing" - "O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be." Have we been overwhelmed by the grace of God? Are we "debtors to grace"? Do we respond to the Lord with overflowing joy and rich generosity?
4. George Matheson, the blind preacher who knew God’s joy seeking him through pain and wanted the freedom of belonging wholly to God.

We think of stewardship as "the bit we put in the plate." But it begins with the overwhelming gift of God and our response to his grace. All that we have and are truly belongs to him. True stewardship becomes a total way of living and giving under grace. It is a recognition that we own nothing and that what is in our possession is not ours but God’s.  We cannot give something since we own nothing.  How are we using that which is God’s in serving others who are in need?  That is the ultimate question!

 

Prayer
Heavenly Father – help me see that you have blessed me to be a blessing to others.  Help me to use responsibly that which is yours, to do your will.  Amen

 

Did someone send you this Devotion? Would you like to receive future ones directly? Click here to subscribe.

Want to learn more about the Bible Jesus used – The Old Testament – and the Bible Jesus taught?  Enroll today in Word Among Us – Cover to Cover study of the Bible starting in Genesis and going through Revelation including the inter - testamental period, using history and archeology and Biblical culture to make the text alive - taught by Tim Hetzner.
Class sites are across the USA. Click here for more information.

Tim Hetzner - President - Lutheran Church Charities
		333 W. Lake Street, Addison, Illinois 60101
		(866) 455-6466 • Fax: (866) 451-1476
		Web Site: lcc.LutheranChurchCharities.org
		E-Mail: TimHetzner@LutheranChurchCharities.org
At the end of the day. . . Making A Difference In People's Lives and In God's Kingdom