In honor of Tegan...

Right now, as I sit here at my desk at work, I am eating Skittles. And out of habit, I am putting aside all the purple ones, because that's just how I'm used to eating Skittles. Tegan gets anything grape, Becca gets anything orange, end of discussion! Except now I don't know what to do with the lonely grape ones...maybe you'll just have to come visit me and claim them. :)

But that got me thinking about the way we treat ALL our stuff. Is it as instinctive for me to put aside money, time, food, clothing, and all the other resources God is allowing me to take care of, as it is for me to set aside those grape Skittles? Sadly, no. I have to make a conscious effort to set aside my tithe first when I get my paycheck, otherwise it's easy for me to say, "Well, I've been needing this thing for a long time, so I'll buy it now and tithe double next month." Yeah, right! Like that ever happens! There was a reason that God asked His people to offer Him their firstfruits. It was because He knew that we get wrapped up in space and time and things, and in asking our first step to be dedicated to Him, it would become easier to consider all the following steps His, too. I've been reading Leviticus, and God's perspective on dedicating things to Him is very serious - no cutting corners, no cheating God! Remember Ananias and Saphira? God cannot be hoodwinked. He doesn't want just one piece of us, He wants ALL of us, ALL that we have, so that we can be entirely transformed in the fiery blaze of His holiness. The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. And, frankly, this is very easy to forget. It doesn't come naturally to us. It, instead, has to be learned, in a daily process some people like to call sanctification. So that, after a while, the decision to turn everything back to God for His praise and the building of His Kingdom becomes a little more reflexive, and the lines start becoming blurred between individual acts of giving, and it starts to look more like a continuous stream of gratitude. Oh, that this may someday be true in my life! In the meantime, with God's help, I continue to need constant reminders to not hold so tightly to anything but nail-pierced hand of our Saviour. As a Body, we all need to remind each other sometimes.

The house that I live in? It isn't mine. Not only does it legally belong to the Yandas, but while I'm in it, the use of that house should also be entirely dedicated to God. That means that if someone needs a place to stay for a while, I would be more than happy to give up my bed and sleep on the couch. If you're tired of Houghton water, come take a soak in my bathtub. If you need a place to relax and get away, come on over, anytime! Lord, glorify Your name in my house. The food that I eat every day? It is not mine. It has been given to me by God, and gifts were never meant to be hoarded, but to be shared. That means that my dinner table is always open for you! Holy Spirit, work in our lives through the food we eat and the people with whom we share it. The clothes that I wear? They are not mine. I thank God for them, especially in the bitter Houghton cold that is quickly approaching. But I have more than enough, and when I can no longer close the drawers on my dresser, it isn't a sign that I need a bigger dresser, it's a sign that I need to do some sorting and giving away. Lord, we make our wardrobes a prayer to you. The car that I drive? The sticker in the window says I own it, but that's not really true. This life that I live every day? It is not mine. I have been crucified with Christ, therefore it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me.

So, thank you, Tegan, for sharing your orange Skittles with me. May we learn to hold nothing back from the One who has given it all to us!