I’m Not Going to Beg Anymore
Sharon Jaynes
Today’s Truth
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (I John 3:1).
Friend to Friend
Cary and Madeline Rivers read about the overcrowded orphanages in Eastern Europe and God stirred their hearts to look into adoption. Foreign adoptions are very costly, but God had blessed the couple financially and the cost was not prohibitive. They decided to adopt, not one, two or three, but four children. After eleven months and miles of red tape, the adoption process was complete and the couple traveled across the ocean to gather their new family.
The trip home was 22 hours, so when they arrived at the Atlanta, Georgia airport for a two-hour layover, the family decided to let the rambunctious boys run around the terminal to work out some of their pent-up energy. Of course, they never let their new sons out of their sight. After a short while, Madeline noticed one of the boys, watching a man drinking at a water fountain. Even though the child could not speak English, he seemed to be using his hands and body language to communicate. To Madeline’s horror, the man reached in his pocket and handed her new son a dollar bill.
She rushed over to the man and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Well, I could tell this boy couldn’t speak English, but I could also tell that he was begging. So, I gave him a dollar.”
The parents looked in the boy’s pocket and he had ten one-dollar bills! The little boy had no idea the riches that came with his adoption. Even though he was now part of a family with great wealth, he continued to do what he had done all his life…beg.
Oh dear sister, do you see yourself in the little boy’s eyes. Are you begging for handouts when your daddy owns the “cattle on a thousand hills?” Are you scavenging for crumbs when your heavenly Father provides “everything you need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (I Peter 1:3)? Are you searching for acceptance and approval from others when God longs to lavish you with His? Are you begging for what is already yours?
John wrote: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (I John 3:1). To lavish is to give freely, profusely, extravagantly, and abundantly. He doesn’t give us everything we want when we want it. No father wants spoiled children. Rather, He gives us everything we need to become well-behaved children who bear His name well.
Let’s Pray
Dear God, forgive me for acting like a spiritual pauper when I am a child of the King. Open my eyes to see all that You have given me.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Now It’s Your Turn
Look up and define the word “pauper.”
Would you say you live like a child of the King or a spiritual pauper?
What would be the difference?
How would the child of a king live differently than a pauper? Let’s chat about that at www.facebook.com/sharonjaynes.
More from the Girlfriends
Today’s devotion was taken from Sharon’s new book, 5 Dreams of Every Woman and How God Wants to Fulfill Them(a new revised version of her previous book, Dreams of a Woman). Can you risk the hope that God still has dreams for your life? That He hasn’t forgotten you? Place your hand firmly in His-take a deep breath and begin the exciting journey to a place you thought you’d never find: the dream God planned for you all along. Let’s dare to dream again!
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Originally published Wednesday, 16 March 2011.
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