"The Great Multiplier"
Weekly Address: Week of October 23
"The Great Multiplier"
Weekly Address: Week of October 23
There’s a question that is running through my head as I look back at my childhood. How did our family get so far on so little?
My mom and dad were blessed with a military pension and a good working job, but they weren’t wealthy by any standards. That said, they happened to raise 4 boys with holes in their stomachs. Besides food, they were responsible for paying for tuition, health care, music lessons, gasoline, clothes, and the list goes on. Sacrifices of course were made. We had to learn to be content. But our family also grew to know and trust in our God – “The Great Multiplier.”
Many a Christian can testify to the incomprehensible arithmetic at work in their lives– God accepts what little is given to him, and he returns it in double measure. Many a Christian who comes to know their good and gracious God feels his multiplying hand as they take stock of the family budget at the end of the month.
But our “Great Multiplier” promises not only to sustain us with the blessing of daily bread. This is the same “Great Multiplier” who says in our message this week from Luke 18: “Amen I tell you: Anyone who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will most certainly receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life.” (EHV translation) This goes hand-in-hand with what he previously told the rich ruler in the same text [my own words]– Anyone who has left his possessions for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive eternal treasures multiplied in this age and in the age to come!
God accepts what little we bring him when it is given in faith. It can mean offering our time, talents or wealth – it can also mean putting away any idols (sources of misplaced trust) which keep us from following God with our whole hearts.
By no means do we bring anything of substance to him outside of faith. But by this Spirit-given faith, he looks at what we give him through the sacrifice of his holy Son, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins. With that, our “Great Multiplier” sees fit to multiply spiritual blessing after spiritual blessing within us, culminating in the assurance of eternal life with him in heaven. That assurance stands true TODAY.
With that in mind, we can confidently follow Jesus in faith, and give our all to him, knowing that he will bless us more than we possibly imagine. That’s the “Great Multiplier’s” promise.
My mom and dad were blessed with a military pension and a good working job, but they weren’t wealthy by any standards. That said, they happened to raise 4 boys with holes in their stomachs. Besides food, they were responsible for paying for tuition, health care, music lessons, gasoline, clothes, and the list goes on. Sacrifices of course were made. We had to learn to be content. But our family also grew to know and trust in our God – “The Great Multiplier.”
Many a Christian can testify to the incomprehensible arithmetic at work in their lives– God accepts what little is given to him, and he returns it in double measure. Many a Christian who comes to know their good and gracious God feels his multiplying hand as they take stock of the family budget at the end of the month.
But our “Great Multiplier” promises not only to sustain us with the blessing of daily bread. This is the same “Great Multiplier” who says in our message this week from Luke 18: “Amen I tell you: Anyone who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will most certainly receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life.” (EHV translation) This goes hand-in-hand with what he previously told the rich ruler in the same text [my own words]– Anyone who has left his possessions for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive eternal treasures multiplied in this age and in the age to come!
God accepts what little we bring him when it is given in faith. It can mean offering our time, talents or wealth – it can also mean putting away any idols (sources of misplaced trust) which keep us from following God with our whole hearts.
By no means do we bring anything of substance to him outside of faith. But by this Spirit-given faith, he looks at what we give him through the sacrifice of his holy Son, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins. With that, our “Great Multiplier” sees fit to multiply spiritual blessing after spiritual blessing within us, culminating in the assurance of eternal life with him in heaven. That assurance stands true TODAY.
With that in mind, we can confidently follow Jesus in faith, and give our all to him, knowing that he will bless us more than we possibly imagine. That’s the “Great Multiplier’s” promise.
