April 17

Read: Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17-18

Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).

What Can I Give To God?

As a child of God, my Heavenly Father asks me to consecrate my all to Him. But how can I give anything to God? He gives me the power to earn my daily bread. God gave me the breath that I breathe; He gave me the mind that I use. My friends are gifts from God. My family is mine only by His grace. God gave His Son to save my soul. My spirit that yearns for Him was His gift to me. The very desire to give myself to Him came from Him. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father” (James 1:17).

In the strictest sense I cannot give anything to God, because all that I have He gave to me. But I can and do consecrate this life of mine. I do this by a deep, heartfelt recognition that what I have is not my own. I have always been His by right of creation; I now wish to be HIS by my own free choice. I can and do now accept God’s way as my way. As He has freely given all to me, I do now acknowledge HIS gifts and I desire to give myself to Him.

There is only one thing in this world that God cannot have unless I give it to Him — that is my love. And even this I can scarce withhold when I remember His love for me. I do love Him with all my heart. I do trust Him completely. I do therefore find it easy to say:

O God, what offering shall I give to Thee, The Lord of earth and skies? My spirit, soul, and flesh receive, A holy, living sacrifice. Small as it is, ’tis all my store; More should’st Thou have if I had more.

— Joachin Lang., About 1690