Menu“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” – 1 Peter 4:10
In Holy Baptism, our Triune God (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit), claims us as His own.
By the shedding of the Son’s blood on the cross – a punishment of Jesus’ death to atone for our sins – and by His resurrection for our justification, God the Father has received us into His family. He paid a great price for us, all so that we may be His “treasured possession.” By water combined with His Word, His promise and His name, the Holy Spirit resides in us, and we belong to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit just as much as to our own biological family…perhaps more so! For He is in us; we are in Him. And in Him, we are richly and abundantly blessed.
And the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different Christians, all to be used in service to others. The diversity of gifts He gives reminds us that we are one body in Christ, and we need each other. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in his generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:6-8)
When Jesus tells the parable of the “pearl of great price,” we are reminded that our pearl is not something that belongs to us, but most preciously that we belong to the most holy Trinity. Merely belonging to Christ is enough, yet as His baptized children, everything that is His belongs also to us: Christ’s righteousness, peace, resurrection and eternal life.
And as if that were not enough, God the Father continues to bless us every day with our daily bread and more, even though we do not deserve His mercy on our own account. Even our temporal treasures are gifts from His fatherly divine goodness and mercy.
We receive our treasures from Him, so as good stewards of His varied grace, we manage them in such a way that they may be returned to Him. We bring them to Him, responding to His grace in God’s holy Word through prayers of thanksgiving and humble offering – either back to His church for distribution in service to others, or directly in service to others in ways that glorify His holy name.
Thus, all our possessions, as gifts from God, are also offerings to Him, from which we eat to nourish our bodies, support our family, share with neighbors, fellow Christians, with the poor, and even with our enemies. In that sense, and when used in that way as God intends, our possessions are holy things given by a holy God and used for holy purposes. His temporal gifts are blessings to us and for us. They bring blessing upon us even as they are pressed into His service for His Kingdom and the souls that receive them.
So we place all that we have into God’s hands, for He never fails to remember us and pour out His promises upon us. We give thanks for all that He has done, is doing, and will continue to do for us. And we give thanks not merely by taking for ourselves, but giving to all who are in need, even as our heavenly Father has given to us.
Rev. Jeff Nickel, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Clarence