December 4, 2014 Advent Devotional - Share

Today's devotional reading from the LEC Family Advent Devotional is Luke 3:11.  It is easy to take this passage literally and inspect how well we personally help those in need.  And this is a great lesson for our children and is the back bone of our response to mission ministries.  But I also think the challenge that the devotional writer has made --  "You have a treasure in your possession and you have the ability to show or share that treasure.  The question is -- will you?" -- is one that is a harder response to make.  The scene leading up to this reply by John is his rebuke of those coming to him to be baptized.  The last thing that John wanted these Jewish people to think was that they were entitled and that they would automatically be part of the family that God had promised to Abraham so long ago.  They also didn't need a bunch of rules to follow.  They needed some basic principles to prepare themselves and show that they were serious about their desire to be God’s people.  Being God’s people required a new way of life and a new way of thinking. They would no longer be able to think only of themselves. They needed to learn principles of serving and loving others and thinking of others' interests even before their own.  

The devotional writer ends with the following thoughts about John Wesley:  "John Wesley reminded his early Methodist constituents to adhere to this principle as he concluded his covenant prayer with that focus on giving as an act of glorifying God." 

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

Today's Advent Photo of the Day - Share

#share #pictureadvent

 

When my granddaughter was 3, she wanted to give her pennies to help people.  So she counted all of the pennies she had saved and she and her mother went to the grocery store and bought canned goods to donate to their local rescue mission.  My granddaughter also colored a picture for the people (my daughter gave the picture to a man that was sitting outside of the mission; he told her it reminded him of his grandchildren) and she donated the pennies that she didn't use to buy her canned goods.