81 Cents

Devotional by Mrs. Molly Audiss

(From Christian Womanhood's weekly evotions)

Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

My  oldest son recently turned seven, and he received money from several relatives. All together he had $65, which I made a big deal about as we headed to Toys R Us to choose a toy. He was mildly excited about the cash but was very excited about something else. You see, in his class at school, they are learning the names and values of different coins. Though not impressed with his paper money, he was thrilled with the change. "Mom, I have 81 cents!" Isn't it funny the way little kids think? But, I would not see it as funny in ten years if he still had that mentality; I would be alarmed. As much as I enjoy having small children, I look forward to the time when they get old enough to talk with me on a more adult level. I want to someday have a relationship with my sons that is on a more even level than that of an adult and a young child. I would be very sad if our relationship never progressed past what we have now.

Ladies, God created us to bring Him pleasure. He wants a relationship with us. He wants us to get to know Him more and more through the years as we fellowship with Him. When I get to Heaven and see spiritual things more clearly (I Corinthians 13:12), I cringe to think I may look at my life on earth, realizing that I never grew spiritually to maturity. All I ever gave Christ was the mentality of a young child. I don't want that! I want to grow in Christ, not mainly for my own sake but for His. Doesn't He deserve to fellowship with Christians on a more and more mature level as they grow in spiritual knowledge? I fear that too many of us aren't worried about our Christianity much after we get saved. Once we have "fire insurance," many of us don't worry about growing in the Lord. It goes without saying that, even if we have a billion years to grow in wisdom and knowledge, we will never get close to understanding our God. He is so far above us that we cannot even fathom all that He is, but shouldn't we try to gain the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5), for His sake? If He created us to fellowship with Him, He must want us to learn about Him. The Christian life is a journey of discovering through God's Word how He thinks, what He likes, what He dislikes -- Who He is. I have been saved for nearly 30 years; surely God expects that I will commune with Him on the level of a 30-year-old spiritually.

That is the tragedy of backsliding and leaving God's will for a season. You get behind in spiritual maturity. Our Heavenly Father deserves to have children who grow steadily, always gaining more wisdom and knowledge in their level of fellowship with God.

To reach maturity spiritually, we must realize what things God thinks are important and what things He feels are less important. The Bible teaches us that, as an Eternal Being, the Lord is most interested in things that are eternal, and the Lord is very concerned about each and every person. This should be something that is high on our list of priorities.

Too often I think that God reminds us that we have $65, but we are more concerned about our 81 cents. Let me explain.

My family and I just moved last week to a new home (new to me). I am thrilled with our little corner of the world. Our house is a cottage-type home in the middle of a wooded acre with a pond. The property is completely bordered by trees, so when the trees have leaves, we have total privacy from the road and from other houses. It is just what I have always wanted. I love having a big stone fireplace and being a homemaker; my house is very important to me. But, on the grand scheme of things, I must remember that my house is just that -- a house, a wonderful gift from God. It is special but not eternal. I could easily close myself in and get lost in decorating and organizing my home and forget about the world around me. (That sounds perfect to me!) Regularly I need to remind myself that my home is a shiny quarter in my change jar, but it is not true riches. So today I met my soul-winning partner, and we went out knocking on doors, telling others about Christ. I must keep my priorities straight. Would I rather knock on doors or shop for items for my new home? Did you have to ask that? Honestly, I am just an average Christian. I would rather be at home, but I want to grow up spiritually and make what is important to God important to me.

Do you want to look back at your life on earth and see all the times when you got excited about your 81 cents, when your pockets were stuffed full of the riches of God? I want to grow up. Think about it, ladies. As Christians, a member of the Trinity lives inside our bodies! He is always with us, guiding us, comforting us, telling the Father what we need! That is true riches! We have a copy (or many copies) of the only eternal Book ever written, the very words of God. Our Bibles are true riches! Our loving God has given us the ability to bring an eternal life into the world, rear it, train it to love Him and serve Him -- our children are our eternal riches! Wives, the Lord ordained only one relationship on earth to "act out" the relationship that Christ has with the church. Wow -- our marriage is true riches!

Let's get a little less excited about our 81 cents. Our houses, our cars, our clothes, our jewelry, our titles and positions, our salary. These things are pretty, shiny pennies, that are fun to have and special to us. But they don't make us rich.

For the Lord's sake, let's grow up spiritually, so that we can reach the potential He has given us. Let's strive to be mature friends of God, fulfilling the reason He created us. I wrote a phrase on a piece of paper, and I put it on the wall by the head of my bunk bed in college. Each night before I went to sleep I looked at it and thought about it. Maybe you could write out this same question, and look at it each evening before you go to sleep:

Lord, was the way I acted today in accordance to the vision You had of what I would be when You created me to fulfill Your purpose?