This last Sunday, one of our pastors, Derick Zeulner, preached a fantastic sermon on the abundance God has for us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During his sermon he shared one man’s testimony about his own father’s generosity.

One time, my dad wanted to congratulate me on something I had accomplished in the sixth grade. He took me to K-Mart and made a wide sweeping gesture with his hand toward the whole store from the entrance. He said, “To congratulate you, I’ll buy you anything in this whole store tonight.” My eyes widened as I thought of the possibilities.

At the time, I didn’t have a full grasp on how money worked or how much money Dad had. So I sort of limited things in my mind. I didn’t even look at the huge stereo systems, expensive bikes, or anything that cost more than one hundred dollars. Instead, I chose a cassette tape case that was less than fifty dollars. I was content with just that case. It was more than I could afford myself, for sure, so I chose that one. It was nice. Only many years later did I find out from Dad that he had one thousand dollars cash in his pocket that night. What’s more, he brought his checkbook just in case that wasn’t enough. In my selection, I limited his blessing in my life. (Taken from Soul Shift by Steve DeNeff & David Drury, p. 55)

In commenting on this, Pastor Derick reflected…

The blessings were there for the taking because his dad was generous. But because he didn’t know how generous his dad was… he missed it. God is ready to give to you everything; everything that is good that He has to give… through the Gospel.

Don’t miss it. Don’t set your sights too low by asking for just health, or riches, or talent, or physical beauty or fame and success… God can give it, but those things don’t live up to the hype. Go for the best thing that God has to offer…the Gospel.

There you go. God has so much more to give you than the empty desires and fleeting pleasures of the world.  There is something better than health, wealth, fame, or fortune. There is something that far exceeds sex, money, or power. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ; the only thing that brings you, not only to creation, but to the Creator. The Gospel brings believers into more than we can ask for or imagine.

Don’t underrate God’s generosity. Take all that He offers.