GCV Blog

Grace Church of the Valley blog.


As a result of some messages lately about God's gracious gifts to us, I've been considering how I steward those gifts. It occurred to me that as a people, we all stand guilty of daily embezzlement. There is nothing we have that we have not received. Every good and every perfect gift is from above. However, we have a remarkable ability to take what God has given and use it for a different god.

We take intellect and learning and boast in ourselves. We take sexual pleasure and spend it on lusts. We pilfer time and spend it on our own pursuits. We hoard forgiveness from the cross and repay bitterness to our enemies. We take cars and houses and computers and divert them to our own purposes and pleasures.

While I was mulling on these tendencies in me, I read Nehemiah 9:35. After chronicling the goodness of Yahweh and the rebellion of the Israelites, the writer of Nehemiah says "But they, in their own kingdom, with your great goodness which you gave them, with the broad and rich land which you set before them, did not serve you or turn from their evil deeds."

We may not be Israelites, but we share their tendency of embezzlement. We get and get and get from God, yet fail to serve Him with our whole hearts. If we were to get spiritually audited, the accounting would be criminal.

Getting robbed is an intensely emotional experience. Being robbed by someone you provide for exponentially multiplies that sting. It's tragic how many good gifts get turned into occasions for evil. It's disturbing to consider how many times I've filched from God.

Are you embezzling today?