It's Not Ours to Begin With

This post is inspired from a now really good friend of mine, Ellen Moore. She is Gabe’s older sister and she stayed with us here in Detroit for a few days. This was a huge blessing for her to help with the mailing of the letters as you already read about. But one of the first things Ellen said to me was, “Thanks for letting me use you room while I’m here.” Now here is where God has been working on me and teaching me lessons by having me respond, “No problem, it’s not even mine to begin with.” This is very true, it is the Heck’s guest room and I am temporarily occupying it for the summer. I cannot claim it as my own and make it seem like it is a real burden for me to give up the room for Ellen.

As all my posts, my life experiences turn into life lessons for me to grow stronger in my walk with Christ. Here I am taught that the things I “possess” are not even mine to begin with. God owns them and me and I should be willing to give up my place for the sake of others. I do not deserve to keep the comfort of a bed more than my neighbor. I should consider myself as dirt (Ecclesiastes 12:7), not able to do anything alone. I have been compelled by Christ to lay myself down for Him so that I may be more than just dirt. The only way I become something more than scum is if Christ is in me and I allow Him to live through me. As Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Having this new life of Christ in me gives me the right to possess what I want… WRONG! Jesus was as much of a servant as He expects us to be, and only now having been raised to His Heavenly Throne by God, is He to be worshiped! For even Christ’s service was in pursuit ofanything, is because of God’s extended grace to me, in the form of Jesus. Right now, because of my sins I deserve the pit of Hell (Romans 3:23). However, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And I would like to extend here, that believe means more than just being certain that Jesus died, but Running the race With a Purpose: “[not] to be seen as God’s perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace” (Oswald Chambers).

His own slavery.  He did not act humbly in order to force God to acknowledge such action and exalt him, but he served with the full intention of becoming less, not more.  Though demons cowered beneath Him, He did not want them to grant him a reputation.  Though He healed the blind and leprous, He did not want to be known as a humble man worth emulating.  He wanted to be a man, as compared to God: very pitiful, worthless, deserving of only a muck-dwelling life. I myself am still scum and do not deserve anything that I do have. I do not even deserve salvation let alone my next breath. The only way I have anything, and I mean

Now trying to tie this altogether: we do not deserve anything because of our sinfulness, but by God’s grace we are blessed with possessions to be a blessing, and/or a servant, to others. What are you holding so dear to you that you aren't willing to give it up? Is it money, your time, or a simple act of service? When was the last time you sacrificed something that you possess to benefit someone else? Don’t hold anything with a closed hand, but rather hold it up with an open hand to be available to be used by God.

Tim and Chad admiring Detroit from Belle Isle

His undeserving servants,

Chad and Tim