“No good thing does He withhold
from those who walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11b
After
breakfast tomorrow I will have completed my first reading of Charles Spurgeon’s
devotional classic, Morning and Evening.
My wife gifted me with it last June 30th and I’ve been enjoying it
ever since. It wasn’t a late Father’s Day gift, nor was it an early anniversary
or Christmas gift, but a super-early (3 months early to be exact) birthday
present.
Now,
why would Brittany do that? Was it because she had failed to gift well on
Father’s Day? No, not at all. In fact, I had just received a brand new propane
grill a week or so earlier for Father’s Day – an extravagant gift to say the
least. Had I been especially sweet, proving myself deserving of such blessing?
Not exactly. I’m afraid that question will never be answered in the
affirmative. No, she simply knew that I would love it. My wife was confident
that I would benefit from its pages. Brittany concluded that if it would help
me look to Christ, thus stirring my affections for more of Him, then giving me
the book early was the only real option.
As you
might imagine, my hope is to talk about more than birthday presents. I’m
curious why we withhold good from one another. Sure, most of us are completely unaware
that we do, but nevertheless it happens. What do I mean? Well, for starters we
often withhold ourselves. We have gifts and talents, stories of God’s
providence in our lives. We have learned through successes and failures; we’ve
trod down difficult paths alone and afraid. We could offer hope to someone in a
similar situation. But for whatever reason, we are kept away from others for some other time. Perhaps we just don’t
realize our value.
But
surely we see that we’re blessed in the way of resources, right? We have
financial means, technological capability, and opportunities to pursue higher
education like no other time in history. We have enough capital to fill our
every weekend doing “stuff.” We pay for our hobbies and recreational vices, but
how often do we spend our “hard-earned money” on someone outside of our family?
Sure, we’re invested in our local body, but we don’t support the shared mission
financially. That would be just fine,
but when there is no evidence of our time, money, energy, or giftedness being spent sacrificially, then it is safe to say
that some good has been withheld. There are areas where more servant leaders
would enrich ministry; there are churches waiting to be planted, missionaries
praying for support, unreached people desperate for the liberating word of the
gospel. But then again, maybe we just don’t see the need.
You
know what your lost neighbor has in common with the tribal heathen on the other
side of the planet? A need for the gospel! That need is the one thing that we as
believers share with them as well – the good news of Jesus Christ – His life,
death, and resurrection. We all need the gospel and the healing,
transformational power therein. Yet, we’ve not only given up on preaching it to
ourselves, it seems we dare not share the gospel’s freedom with others either.
Why? Is it possible that we’ve forgotten the great depths from which we were
saved, for which we now stand, and to the promised hope we have ahead of us?
Evangelism is only as valuable as the discipleship that accompanies it. The
moment we begin to toil for toys and trinkets instead of the treasure hidden in
the field, we lose our zeal for the neighbor as well as the nations. Surely,
when such good is withheld it can only be that we’ve forgotten God’s grace, His
mercies that are new each morning, and the joy that life in Him brings.
But it
is possible that we withhold these good things because we are scared. We’re
afraid of running out – of money, of energy, of zeal. We think, “How long can I do this?” And at some
level this is a healthy consideration; dear friend, do count the cost! Yet as
we take inventory, may we remember the source of the good that we have to
offer. For which of us while in the womb, asked God for something? “Father, knit my mind together so that I may
be a learned man and excel in business.” “Lord, take my unformed substance and
make me winsome and compassionate.” “Jesus, plant me in an affluent community,
where our pooled-together resources can push back darkness around the globe.”
“Holy Spirit, allow me to process the events of my life to see Your
faithfulness through all the trials of my travels.” No one has! Yet, God
has created us in just these types of ways. He has given grace in spite of our
faithlessness that we might trust Him to provide for us and sustain us as we look to
reflect the light of His glory and grace.
He
withholds nothing from His children…except for the wrath that we each deserve
for our sin. He is not only merciful, but He lavishes His grace upon us, giving
us what we could never earn, supplying us with more than we could ever desire.
He is good and does good. Perhaps there is fear that we’ll become frail and
faint in such giving work. Ah, but may we remember that our help is fully
supplied by the One that never grows tired or weak or weary. Nothing has been
withheld from His saints, therefore, might the abundance of our blessing not
terminate on us.
 |
| Matt Fowler Associate Pastor of Missions & Students matt@nbchurch.info @fattmowler |
No comments:
Post a Comment