“What do you have that you did not receive?” 1 Corinthians 4:7
Perhaps one of the most difficult things in this life is “making” something of our lives.
You and I both desire to make our lives count for something.
We want our lives to have purpose and meaning and so we set out to:
- Make a name for ourselves
- Prove our worth
- Create something both impactful and lasting
And yet, I wonder if we are really on the wrong track here.
Perhaps we are not to “make” as much as we are to “tend”. Paul reminds us in Corinthians that we have nothing that was not given to us. Everything we have: breath, life, strength, provision, purpose, meaning, has already been provided for us. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)
So is our job really to “make something” of our lives?
I am not merely trying to play with words, or split hairs, but I do think God has something to teach us here.
God is the Creator God. He indeed has plans and a purpose for all of creation and also for each individual human being. He knew us before we were born. He knows us by name. He knows the hairs on our heads, each day of our life and the words we are going to speak. Do you think He also knows the purpose and plan for our life on this earth?
“Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15
And so I would assert that we are not called to “make” but to “receive”. And what we receive we are to tend, manage, steward, etc. God told Adam and Eve to tend the garden that He created. God told Peter to take care of God’s sheep. Paul told the Corinthians that those who have been entrusted with something should prove faithful.
We have been entrusted with so many things. And they have all been given by the hand of God. We are simply the stewards of what He entrusts to us. So let us not run after the things of this world. Let us not seek out titles, position, fame and fortune. Instead let us receive what God offers to us and tend it well.
Scripture reminds us that those who tend well what they are given will be given much more. But more importantly remember that what we have been given we are to “employ…in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” 1 Peter 4:10. When we do this God gets the glory, others are invited into the kingdom of God and God Himself makes our lives count for something!
Pastor Michael Johnson 