MOUSEY MOMENT … THE 3 T’s – TIME, TALENT, TREASURE

On Saturday 31^st August & Sunday 1^st September, we are having a ‘GIFT DAY’ weekend.

STEWARDSHIP IS HOW we use our God-given gifts; it is how we use our time, our talents, and our treasure to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world.  

TIME

The gift of time.

None of us has ENOUGH of it.  All of us want MORE. How much time do you set aside for God? For yourself? How often do you pray? Meditate? How about time for family and friends and those in need?  Our time on earth is limited and our time is fleeting. We need to make the most of our time by following in the footsteps of Jesus.

Our time begins at birth and ends on this earth with death. For most, it is about 25,000 days. Our time is precious and cannot be stored up like grain in a barn. Once a moment passes it is gone forever. God wants all of us to reach heaven; that is why He created us and why He sent us Jesus. Our life on earth is a pilgrimage toward heaven. Each day, each week, each month and each year we must be progressive on our pilgrimage. We cannot do this unless we give some time to God.

• Through daily prayer, we develop a close personal relationship with God, sharing with Him our successes and failures, and asking for His guidance in our daily lives.
• Reading Scripture daily helps us reflect on God’s word. It also tells of God’s great love for us.
• Assisting individuals and organizations is another way to share our personal time to the glory of God. We also show our love for Him by letting Christ use our feet, our hands, our eyes and our voice.

Your gift of time is unique, because you are the only one who can give it.

Can you make a commitment of your time to enable our church to be open & a place where others can come in for a time of prayer & quiet reflection?  You & they will be happier, healthier, renewed, and God will be pleased!

TALENT

We are all blessed with talents by God – you just may not have discovered them yet!

Perhaps you have a professional trade, an artistic ability, or good organizational skills that could help the church. All of us have special talents or gifts, which are a sign of the power and majesty of God, who can do all things. These talents and gifts are not given to us just for our own use, but are given to us for the enrichment of the lives of others and so that we can serve God better.
St. Peter in his first epistle tells us, “Each one of you has received a special grace, so like good stewards responsible for all these different graces of God, put yourselves at the service of others.”

All of Christ’s works need to be done in our church and community. As you know, Christ is not physically present in our chuch to:

• Visit the sick and elderly
• Feed the hungry
• Teach those who want to learn
• Console the lonely and sorrowful
• Pray for the needs and to give a helping hand and a kind word

Christ depends upon each one of us to do these works of stewardship in His name. That makes us co-workers with Christ. What a privilege!

Your gift of talent is a special gift only you can give. Remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi: “It is in giving that we receive.”

Be thoughtful and creative! God will be pleased!

TREASURE

It’s my money – I worked hard for it!

Remember, God owns everything.  No Christian really owns their ‘own’ money. We have been assigned the duty and granted the privilege of managing a certain amount of money. Thus, each Christian is a steward of God’s astounding creation.  A faithful steward shuns ostentation and seeks proper use of the gifts of God’s creation.  God is not critical of those who do well and make a good living. But we are reminded of the story of the rich young man who came to Jesus wanting to inherit eternal life (Mark 10 v17-22). Jesus reminds him of the commandments, and when the young man replies, “Teacher I have kept all these [commandments] since my youth,” Mark reports the following:

 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (10 v21).

The Christian need to share our gifts of ‘Treasure’ may be best illustrated by the well-known parable of the talents, Matthew 25 v14-30, which speaks of a man preparing to travel to a far country. Before departing, he gives talents or money to his servants.

• The first servant receives five talents and works to build them into five more.
• The second servant, who receives two talents, doubles their value as well.
• But the third servant, who receives one talent, buries it.

When the master returns, he praises the first and second servants, but he takes the one talent from the third servant because the servant was not a good steward of the money, having done nothing to increase its value. The lesson of the parable of the talents is that we are to make good use of material gifts given to us by God. To be less than frugal with our material goods is a sin. To do nothing with them is just as wrong.

When we do make the most of material possessions, the Bible points out two ways we can show our gratitude to God for his gifts:

• First, because God is the Giver, some percentage of what is received must be returned to Him as an act of gratitude. (The Old Testament people were expected to give a tithe of 10 percent. This practice is mentioned 39 times in the Old Testament and 11 times in the New Testament, so we know it is God’s will that the practice be continued.)
• Secondly, there should be some sharing of our money and material goods with those in need in our family, community, church, circuit and world. Read Paul 11 & Corinthians 9 v1-15.

Your gift of treasure is a direct gift only you can give.

“As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4 v10).

As Christian stewards, we receive God’s gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord.

Please come to church during our GIFT DAY weekend & be part of the ‘GIVING’.