So often we feel as though we are the victim. It’s as if I am the bum on the street lying there cold and lonely near death. I have a single dime in my pocket and now someone comes up to dig through my pockets while I sleep. They’re trying to steal my last dime. Instead we must realize that we are rich. We have deep pockets in Christ. I am a rich man with oversize pants that have deep pockets weighed down with the weight of so many dimes. When I know that then I am free. When we know that, then we are all free. We are free to bless and to give dimes away to whom we will.
So often burnout is connected to a sense of injustice which is connected to how we view ourselves. If we see ourselves as impoverished and constantly giving from what we do not have, then we will live accordingly. The truth in Christ is that we are not impoverished, but that we share in the heavenly riches of Christ and they are available to us, not through merit, not through a priest, but by rights of our adoption as children of God through the death and resurrection of Christ and the pouring out of his Holy Spirit on us. When we truly know our value in the family of God, then we will see our abundance. Then we will be free to give.
To be sure, injustice, or someone coming to steal dimes out of our pocket is still theft. It is still a violation. Injustice still hurts and the pain is real. But the truth that keeps us going is that no matter how many times our pockets get emptied, Christ has filled them up again and again. They are filled to fulfilling – a superabundance of God’s glorious riches in Christ.
This looks like all the different gifts we have been given. Gifts of wealth, gifts of knowledge, wisdom, or time – these all may be spent to bless others out of the richness of the gift that has been given to us.
When David lived in the golden age of Israel’s kingdom, when his reign was established and he was in his heyday, he looked around him and asked, “Who is there left to bless?”
This should be our question as well.
David was passionate about his friend Jonathan. Now that Jonathan was gone, David still had a passion to bless the household of his friend. “Who is there left of Jonathan’s household to bless?” The reply came back to him, “Mephibosheth.” Who was Mephibosheth? He was the clubfooted grandson of Jonathan. He was a cripple. He was dependent on the goodness of others for his existence. He was a welfare case.
He was the object of affection of David’s deep pockets.
When it came to Jonathan’s household, we see just how deep David’s pockets go. Mephibosheth brought nothing to the table except his need for grace. David brought everything to the table in his lavish spending on Mephisbosheth. In the same way we bring nothing to the table except our need for grace. Christ brought everything to the table in his lavish spending of his body on our behalf. Now in light of his resurrection we have the same privilege, to look around and spend lavishly on other “grace cases” all around us.
Who is the grace case in your life? Where do you have a passion to spend out of your deep pockets in Christ? Or do you need to be reminded again that you do indeed have deep pockets because of Christ. The grace you need is available to you. How will you spend it?
In Him,
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