hold with an open hand.

Through this time as I continue to do what I believe what God has told me to do, he has indeed blessed me beyond measure. Since I have become a youth pastor almost 3 years ago, I have gotten married to a great godly woman, bought a house and graduated college with my bachelors in psychology/counseling and now I have even planted a tree in my backyard to help solidify the backyard. I have started to make a spot for myself to stay with my wife for years to come if God is willing. So what does God teach me today and possibly you?

“Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said: Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You, 2 for You gave Him authority over all flesh; so He may give eternal life to all You have given Him. 3 This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent—Jesus Christ. 4 I have glorified You on the earth by completing the work You gave Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed.

John 17:1-5

Hcsb Bible

So during this chapter, Jesus starts his prayer that he has with God the father and he prays for himself to be given glory so he can then give it back to God and then he proceeds to pray for his disciples and eventually us 2,000 years later. (More on that to come in the next couple days.). Now as Christians, our goal in life is to be more and more like Christ and God each and every day. So how does Jesus asking for glory apply to us as Christians?

The reason is because he asks for it so he can then give it back to God the father as we should be. Most of us want God to just bless us without anything in return, when he have nothing to stand on in order to ask the creator of the universe for really anything.

During this time that God may be blessing me, he very well may be giving me this blessing so that he may want me to give it all up so that I can glorify him in some way in the future. Now I’m not saying I’m doing anything like selling it right now anytime soon but, just like God can use our bad times for his glory and our betterment, he can also use our blessings the same way.

Just like how it says that Jesus used to be glorified in heaven with God the father and then decided to come down, lose all of that prestige and honor and praise in order to eventually glorify God the father and obey his will. God may be reminding us of what Jesus sacrificed for Gods glory and he may ask the same of us in our lives and that includes me as well.

So at the end of the day, use Gods blessings for his glory, hold what he has given you with an open hand. That way, he gets the glory and we can be content with life no matter the situation. Now this is not a call to give up everything you own like Jesus called the rich young ruler to do but this is a reminder that in order for us to be like Jesus, we don’t need to hold onto what we have now so tightly since we eventually leave this earth.

Each situation is different. Some people God is calling to give up everything for him while others he is calling to use their blessings for his glory in whatever way they have been blessed with. For me, God has called me to use my blessings for his glory but in the future, he has reminded me here of Jesus’s sacrifice and that I don’t deserve what I’ve been given. I need to hold everything with an open hand so that God can take it and make something even better out of it that will last forever.

I hope y’all are having a great day and if you have any questions or disagreements, comment below or message me and I’ll respond when I can.