Week Four – Day 3
TODAY’S FAST – Through your sponsor you have been taught a job skill. Join the 3 billion that live on close to $2.00 a day by being able to afford some flat bread (one per person for the day)
Devotional:
Are you a consumer? Or a steward?
Each of us started with zilch – born in the buff. And we all go out empty-handed – ending with nada. But in between we sure do like our toys. Even though we can’t take any of our stuff with us when we leave these bodies, what we do with our possessions and money while we have them can make a difference for eternity. The question is whether we are consumers or stewards.
The consumer has a ravenous appetite. The more he devours, the more he craves. His desires are never satisfied. He always insists on more, more, more… yet there is never enough.
The steward also has a ravenous appetite. But his craving is not for money and possessions; his desire is for God. He understands that all his material belongings are gifts from the Lord to be enjoyed with appreciation and shared generously. The steward sees his stuff as really being God’s stuff—stuff not to be consumed like hot dogs at an eating competition, but resources to be wisely invested in God’s Kingdom.
Ecclesiastes 5:15 says that the worker “takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.” While you have toys and tools and treasures to hold in your hand, what will you do with them? Waste them in selfish living? Or generously steward them for God’s eternal purposes?
Prayer Focus:
Pray that you would be satisfied, content and grateful with the blessings God has provided to you.
Pray for the hungry and naked children of the world – remembering that 16 million children die of hunger each year.
Key Verse:
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” – 2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV
