Open Hands
It’s so easy to do. We so often measure our worth and our meaning by our “net worth.” The idea isgrounded in the very word itself. You are worth whatever value your house. You are worth whatever money you have in your bank account. Our money, property,and possessions can quickly use these measures to define the value of a person.And so the lie creeps in – “I am what I have.” That’s the lie.
But what happens when we lose those things like Job did? What happens in our hearts if we never have those things at all? And so, our hearts sink again.
What happens when we don’t have what we think we need for our callings? We are sent, after all. What happens if we don’t have what we think we need to do that calling?
But call out the lie! We are not what we have. We are so much more. We are worth the value of blood of God’s own Son who gave his life as the redemption price for us. We are totally competent and sufficient in Christ! We are nothing but beggars who are nothing but what we have received by grace! God, our God, has poured so much into us. We are jars of clay so show that the all surpassing power is God’s and not ours. We are sent, filled by grace upon grace from our God.
Freely you have received, freely give.
One final practice in this series will help us combat these identity lies: Open hands. On the one hand, weare nothing but beggars who receive with open hands what comes graciously fromGod’s own hand. And on the other hand, we are nothing but generous kings and queens who give away with open hands what God has so carefully entrusted to us.
See you Sunday! Pastor Nate