Give what you can!

I know this title sounds like a fund raising plea, but that's not the direction I'm heading with this post. Rather, I'm looking at the question, "What can we give to God?"

In Getting There, Oswald Chambers writes: We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours.

In other words, if God is the "owner" of the gifts He gave us, then how can we "give" them back? How can we give what is not ours to give?

Chambers continues: There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself.

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Finally from Chambers: If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you— and His experiments always succeed.

Give what you can and watch God succeed!

Lon Alderman
www.AcornMinistries.com
Follow me on twitter: @leaderlifter


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Acorn Build Up: Dedication

Dedication

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you...in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

This passage was used in the daily devotion book I use by Oswald Chambers titled, "My Utmost for His Highest". Chambers wrote:

We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself.

I love Eugene Peterson's take on this passage:

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life -- your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life -- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (The Message)

Worship God by dedicating our everyday lives to Him.

Be dedicated.
Lon