Daily Devotions
They Gave Themselves First to the Lord
Reading for June 26th: Psalm 70-73
Weekly reading for June 21-27: 2 Corinthians 6-9
...they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
2 Corinthians 8:5
When Anna and Joshua were just big enough to crawl, the highlight of my day each afternoon was coming home to two eager babies running (on their hands and knees) to me.
When they were babies they didn't have anything they could give me. They can serve me and even buy me gifts now, but there wasn't really anything they could do for me then. Their love for me was all I wanted.
It's the same way with us and our heavenly Father.There isn't anything we can give God. If we were to give everything we had, we would not add to God's wealth (see Psalm 50:10). That's why God is looking at the heart, not just the amount. The poor widow gave only two mites, but Jesus said she gave more than all those who put in much (Mark 12:41-44). The desperately poor Macedonians couldn't have given all that much, but their gift was described in such a way that you would think they had given millions (2 Corinthians 8:1-5).
We're like little babies. We do nothing for God. There's nothing we give him that he doesn't already have. Except, of course, our heart. That's what our Father desires more than anything.
Father, as children who desperately want to please you, we give you everything we have and everything we are. We give our whole selves to you.
