Lest We Forget

     I believe this is a good reminder to each of us, and something our nation needs to hear.  Yes, we have a part to play in our quality of life and we must do our part, but we've forgotten that all good gifts come from God.  He gives the increase.  He multiplies our seed to bring forth a harvest of "30, 60 or 100 fold".  When our country began, the founders were quick to give God the glory, but over the years we have come to think we have gained all these wonderful blessings on our own.  I pray we repent and give glory and thanks to the only one who can make things grow--and the only one who can save us from our prideful ways.
 God Is Behind Your Increase

1 Corinthians 3:7   (NIV)

    So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Sometimes, we think that the increase or success which we enjoy is the result of our own efforts or hard work. Now, I am not advocating laziness, but the truth is that God is the one behind our increase.

We see this truth when we read the story of Ruth, a young widow from Moab, who worked as a gleaner in a barley field from morning till evening. Now, we could attribute the entire ephah — a substantial 10-day supply — of barley she collected at the end of the day to her hard work. After all, she did work all day in the field.

But when we read about how Boaz, the owner of the field, had secretly told his reapers to “let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean” (Ruth 2:16), we know that it was because of Boaz’s intervention that Ruth ended up with so much.

I believe that Jesus, our heavenly Boaz, does the same thing for us today. He causes people to favor us and “drop” blessings on us because He loves us. Then, He causes us to “pick up” these blessings. Often, it happens so seemingly naturally we forget that it is the Lord who has blessed us with the increases.

A church member who runs a florist business shared that once, God caused someone who needed a lot of flowers to “drop” a huge order with her. She also shared that she was hardly making any money even though she had been working hard for many years. But when she became a Christian after coming to our church, she began to confess every day that God’s favor was on her. Within a few weeks, that big order worth S$14,000 came in. Only God could have given her such a supernatural increase.

My friend, your hard work is not behind your increase. The Bible tells us that it is “God who gives the increase”. He is the one who is behind your increase and He delights in blessing you because He loves you!