All Things Come of Thee
Read: James 1:16-18
As Americans we treasure our independence, our freedom, our CAN-DO
attitude. We honor the self-made person, the high achiever, the
successful person. We sometimes look down on or criticize people who
seem to need help to survive.
Even as practicing Christians, we seem to embrace these feelings. Yet
in them is the very denial of the God we profess to believe in. There
are endless Bible verses telling is to trust in, depend on, follow,
listen to God. An example: Jeremiah 17:7-8: "Blessed are those
who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a
tree planted by water sending out its roots by the stream. It shall
not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the
year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear
fruit."
The Bible constantly reminds us that ALL we have comes from God. But
the Bible also shows us that God's people kept forgetting this over
and over. And we still do! Our society promotes the myth that we can
and should do everything on our own. "But the reality of
Christianity is that we are supported, protected, and sustained by
the living God every moment of every day. Taking credit for our
successes without reference to God is a denial of the truth of God's
action in our lives. Maybe, even worse, if we deny God's action in
our lives, we have no one to call on in the dark times" (Martha
Mayer).
An offertory response I grew up singing at Christ Methodist Church
was: "All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we
given thee."
Noelle Landin
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