4GIVEN

People often disappoint us. They forget about us, or forget promises they made to us. But God never forgets His children! Paul said in 2 Cor 1:20, “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for His glory.” One of the reasons why Joseph spent 2 additional years in Pharaoh’s dungeon was because the cup-bearer never gave him a second thought after his release (Genesis 40:23). However, unlike the chief butler our Chief Priest reminds us daily that He will never leave us nor forsake us and that He will be with us even until the end of this age. As it was for Joseph so shall it be with you. God gave Joseph the grace that gave him strength and comfort even in the darkest pit-filled moments in his life but God’s presence was like a hug wrapped around his neck day and night.

I typically don’t go public with every service act of obedience for the Lord (Matthew 6:3-4) but this is a good story. After shopping at Kroger yesterday, I walked outside and notice an older gentleman sitting in his car waiting on his wife as she loaded a few bags. I could tell that he was a little frustrated so I yelled out, “Good afternoon sir.” He nodded and abruptly responded, “Come here!” At this point, I am thinking to myself ooh okay! He pulls out a $20 dollar bill and hands it to me. Of course, I’m shocked and my immediate response was, “Are you serious?” He gave me that grandpa look like, ‘Didn’t I give it to you!!’ So, I politely thanked him and proceeded to my car. After putting the groceries up, I went to return my cart. As I was returning the cart, I notice an older lady walking up so, I ask her if she needed this cart. She said, “No sir, but I just put $2 of gas in my car and I have to go see my dad at memorial hospital and I wanted to ask if you had a few bucks to spare so that I can get so more gas?” My first thought was this is a test. I sure wanted to keep that $20 bucks but here stood a lady who need was greater than mine and not to mention this man out of the blue just bless me because I chose to speak to him. So, if your still skimming this message you know what I did! I said, “Ms. God just blessed me with this $20 and I believe He wants to now bless you with it, so here it is and God bless and I hope all goes well with you and your dad.” Sometimes you don’t immediately see your position in God’s plan but this was experience blew my mind. It was a back-to-back experience. There is no real moral to this story however, I will say that it pays to be polite to people (man) and it pays to be obedient in giving (God). We live in a heartless world and it’s so important as Christians to share the goodness of God’s grace. We are called to be a light to an immorally dying world! Jesus said in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”