Give Unto God

 

So some lawyers were trying to outwit Jesus, sort of like a four year old trying to outsmart Einstein, and they asked him if Jews should pay taxes to Rome.  Whether he said "yes" or "no" they were planning on ratting him out to the Jews or Romans whichever was more convenient.  And as usual Jesus not only sent them away in awe, but gave us a framework for successful living.

He said "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's." 

 

 

For years I took that at surface level as to mean "don't cheat on your taxes," and as usual I missed the big picture.

The thrust was never about paying taxes, but about figuring out what part of my life belongs to God and giving it to him.

Think it through.  God made everything, he knit me together.  As far as the body he put me in, mine's rather pedestrian compared to most, but it's still a spectacular, amazing recipe of incredible diverse and interrelated systems. 


My body belongs to God.  What artist would ever spend time creating something and then expect he didn't own it. 

What keeps me alive?  Air, water, food, heat, etc,.  and the extraordinarily complex systems which allow this body to adapt and use these for life.  I didn't create or invent any of these.   I did nothing to earn these.  I don't even deserve these.  Really, by what right, law, or logic do I claim these as mine?

God gave me some abilities that allow me to earn money and buy a home and a car.  While I might have practiced and refined those abilities, they were initially from God and he gave me the ability to refine them.  By what line of reasoning do I possess those as mine?

So while I claim to own this car or that home or this body, do I?

The point:  Regardless of what this culture determines I own or do not, it's all God's.  Give to God what it is God's.  What is God's?  Everything.

Every bit of this body.  Every bit of this soul.  Every second I live,   Every penny, every item.  It's God's.  Give to God what is God's.  Why do I believe even for a moment they're mine?

Watching the Wrong Scoreboard

(I wanted to expand a bit on a section of the previous post.)

 

 

Back in the 80's, basketball began using an electronic device called the  "possession arrow" to show which team would receive possession of the ball in special situations.  The possession arrow sits on the scorer's table pretty much ignored by everyone, except for occasional glances near the end of tight games.

Unlike its big brother the scoreboard...which receives thousands of times the attention.

But what if at game's end, regardless of the score, the referees awarded the victory to the team favored by...the possession arrow?  I understand that's crazy and problematic...but...what if?  What would that change?  Pretty much...everything.

If that happened, teams would recognize that their present strategies were worthless and pointless (pun not intended), and would throw them out in place of new strategies in order to win.

My relationship with God is like that possession arrow.  It sits there, but really, for every glance it gets...I give a thousand to the scoreboard...my job, my bank account, my hobbies, my problems, my issues, my problems with my issues, etc.

While I realize I won't be able to bring every thought directly into my relationship with God, what if I could?  What would that change?  Pretty much...everything.

Funny how my thoughts dictate what possesses me.  When I'm fixed on God and his ways, he possesses me with peace and joy and satisfaction. 

When my thoughts turn away from God (unfortunately, my "default condition"), the ways of man and the world possess me and I'm chasing empty goals and life becomes pointless, vain, and depressing.  
 

When God sits down to watch my life, he seldom glances at the scoreboard.  Instead he's locked on to the arrow...monitoring whether my heart is pointed toward him or away.  Because he loves me, he knows how he designed me and wants the very best for me.

 

I'm not implying that the direction of the possession arrow at my last breath determines whether I'm bound for heaven or hell...that would be incorrect.  But I am saying that my life is successful to the extent I'm looking at God's scoreboard rather than my own.