Living for the moment, or living for the Master?

Has God ever asked to borrow something from you?

God?! Borrow something from me! Are you mad?! God owns everything, He doesn’t need anything from me. I need stuff from Him! That’s how it works. You really don’t make any sense sometimes!

But isn’t it interesting that when Jesus taught his disciples to pray he suggested that they focus on what God wants before even beginning to ask for the things that they want.

So what are you saying? That God who ‘owns a cattle on a thousand hills’ wants to borrow from me, a guy with just a bit of loose change in my pocket? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he do that?

Well He never takes from us for the sake of it. God always promises a return payment, He’s not tight. His reward is always far greater than what we give him. He asks of us so that He can give us more. Unless we have a free hand how can we receive anything?

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” Matt 25:34-40

Unbeknown many of us have encountered times in which God has asked to borrow from us in the form of time to visit someone in need of company, or money or resources. Sometimes it would have felt like more of a sacrifice than at others, but it was all for God. We may not even see an immediate return on this but think of it as a long term investment with a high yield return.

But there are other times in which God makes it clear to us that He is asking and what He is asking for.
I recollect listening to a show on Radio 4 a little while back which interviewed members of a church in a small town in America. One couple in the church, who had seen their young family grow up, found God asking them not to hang up their parenting hat but instead to open up their home to ‘His’ children.
They knew for certain that God was asking them to adopt troubled young people, the ones that no-one else was ever going to consider for adoption. God was asking for their home, all of their time, their heart and their family.
It took a while but they were eventually obedient. What is more, when they asked for the church to pray for them it suddenly released the church and a whole number of families in similar situation who realised that God was indeed calling them to the same. God had created a community of families with a heart to home the outcast and ignored. The impact this small inconsequential church has had on generations to come is almost unimaginable but it is all because they were willing to give when God asked to borrow.

We never loose out when we give in response to God asking to borrow from us. He is only borrowing from us because He will pay us back in abundance, now or eternally. What is more nothing we do or give to God is wasted.

“With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.” 1 Cor 15:58