by Rev Steve Nickodemus

I don’t share…

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
2 Corinthians 8:9

Recently I caught our dog, Jenny, jealously guarding her stuffed “cow.” When I acted as if I might want her cow for myself, she vigorously protested and pulled her prized possession away. Never mind that she had been given her stuffed animal just days ago! She wasn’t sharing her “precious” with anyone.

What do you have in your life that is more precious than anything else? What is it that you jealously guard for yourself alone? Is it your money, your time, or your children? Is it your home, your reputation, or your secret habits? Whatever it is that you have, it has been given to you by God, and the Lord, the Giver of all things, wants you to share it with others. Even as God did not hold back His own Son, but freely gave Him for the salvation of the world, so He urges you to give. Even as our Lord Jesus did not covet the riches of heaven, but made Himself poor for your sake, so the Lord wants you to freely share all He has given you.

Does this thought make you uncomfortable? Does the thought of sharing that which is most precious to you make you want to grasp your first love even more tightly?

Then consider this…whatever is most precious to you is actually the god of your life, and only One is meant to be God in your life. It may be time to share what God has given you, that He might be truly your first Love.

Lord Jesus, you are more precious to me than anything else. Send your Holy Spirit to me that there may be formed in me an unselfish, joyful, giving love of You above all else.  Amen.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado