Steve Massey: God pleased when we offer our best efforts

Tired of leftovers yet?

Let’s see. There’s turkey sandwiches, turkey tetrazzini, turkey rice casserole, turkey a la king, turkey pot pie and, of course, turkey noodle soup.

Sure, leftovers are great. But they’re usually a mere echo of the grand meal that was their origin.

We’d never serve leftovers to an honored guest. Soon we even tire of leftovers ourselves.

So it’s curious to me that we seldom hesitate to serve God our leftovers.

Does it seem that God often gets your leftover time, your leftover money, your leftover energy, even your leftover thoughts? Me, too.

In the Bible’s book of beginnings, Genesis, there is an account of Jacob collapsing in fatigue, sleeping in an open field. He must have been tired, because he used a rock for a pillow!

While Jacob slept, his mind’s eye remained open, dreaming of a ladder reaching to heaven. Angels ascended and descended that ladder. Jacob awoke and exclaimed, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” (Genesis 28:16 – NKJV).

Jacob’s dream reminded him of a truth that we would do well to remember in these days of leftovers: God is always personally, even intimately, involved in our lives.

Whether we think about it or not, God is always present, working out his best in the lives of his children. That means every day, God is worthy of our best, not merely our leftovers.

This time of year, while we eat away at that turkey for days on end, we also turn our attention to gift giving.

Leftover turkey and Christmas shopping travel together this time of year. No doubt some of you are a bit tired today, because you got up before the sun to fight your way through those day-after-Thanksgiving sales.

Oh, how it would delight our Lord if we Christians brought that same energy and enthusiasm to the gifts we give to him.

Don’t get me wrong; our sovereign God is not in need of anything. But it delights him when we bring him our best.

When our time, talent and treasure are used for his glory, it brings a smile to God’s face. Like us, he’s not so impressed with leftovers.

Jacob’s discovery of God’s presence at a time when he was tired, overwhelmed and otherwise preoccupied is instructive. Let’s face it. You and I spend much of life in one or all of those conditions.

To disagree would be to deny we’re human. But when Jacob awoke, he resolved to remember God’s constant presence and faithfulness.

Thousands of years later, a humble monk named Brother Lawrence seized on the truth of God’s presence and encouraged others to live with an awareness of that truth. Although he was but a cook and a cobbler, Brother Lawrence once exclaimed, “I am doing now what I will do for all eternity. I am blessing God, praising him, adoring him, and loving him with all my heart.”

He determined to give God his best, not his leftovers.

We bless God when we live with an awareness of his presence and his unchanging character. In the workplace, God is there and is glorified as our work is done as an offering to him.

At home, God is there and is delighted when our relationships exude his love and selflessness.

In the community – where many people even deny he exists – God’s presence is proven as his children display his nature: love, compassion, purity, truth.

In 1 Chronicles 16:34, a hymn of thanksgiving proclaims: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (NIV).

Because God is good, we ought to always be able to see his goodness, no matter what our circumstances.

Because his love never ceases, we are free to live with the liberty that our Creator is for us, not against us. What a blessed life God’s children have!

Such a life is lived to its fullest when we give God our best. So whatever we do with our time, our money and our abilities, let us do it for his glory.

God is worthy of so much more than our leftovers.