Leftovers
Sunday, December 29th 2024 (week 93)
1 Timothy 6: 11-21
It’s that time of year when there is probably some Christmas turkey, Brussels sprouts and parsnips left over, and your mind turns to stretching the budget a little further. You can get all the help you need from the ubiquitous worldwide web. In fact, even a cursory glance reveals “26 Easy Recipes for Leftovers” or for the really brave cook “81 Christmas Leftover Recipes” from Christmas Toad in the Hole to Christmas Vegetarian Bake and everyone’s favourite Bubble and Squeak. Leftovers, it seems, are very popular.
But would you choose to serve leftovers to a special visitor, a Prime Minister perhaps, or your favourite movie star? What if a very well-known chef and TV personality was coming to dinner, Gordon Ramsey or Mary Berry perhaps? Would they get your Christmas leftovers, or would you be off to the supermarket searching for the best ingredients to make something special for them? I confess I’d probably be off to Tesco very quickly!
It is a generally accepted principle that to get the best out of life, or anything else, we must first put in our best. That pays dividends in our work life, leisure time and relationships. But how often do we give our best for God? The Christmas story reminded us that when three “wise” men visited Jesus at His birth, “They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. They opened their gifts and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11). In other words, they gave Jesus the very best they had.
In these days between Christmas and the arrival of the new year, it’s easy for our focus to slip from Jesus to looking ahead to the coming year and what we want from it. It can be easy to forget that God has called us to a specific task, and it can only be accomplished when we give it the best of our time, effort, gifts, and focus because God doesn’t want our leftovers!
We are reminded of this many times through the words of the apostle Paul in today’s reading; “Run your best in the race of faith and win eternal life for yourself; for it was to this life that God called you”. And again in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth”. In Colossians 3:23-24 Paul also says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward…..” The word “heartily” means to complete thoroughly, to accomplish with zest or enthusiasm. And when we’ve done all that, the Bible shows us what we should give back to God from the rewards of our labours in Leviticus 27:30, ‘One tenth of all the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, belongs to the Lord”.
As we reflect on Jesus’s birth and look forward to what God has in store for us next year let’s remember that unlike Paul and all the other memorable Biblical characters Jesus is not merely a historical figure. Jesus was born, died, and raised to life again for you and me. Jesus is alive. He is living amongst us today and is ready to give you his absolute best.
What are you going to give to Jesus in the coming year?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, please forgive us when we fail to give you the best we can. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and fire us up to serve you heartily in the coming year and help us to be aware of your constant presence with us, enabling and encouraging us. Amen.
Neil has been a Christian for nearly thirty years and prior to joining Gatehouse Church spent all his Christian life at Christ Church with All Saints Blackpool, where amongst other things he was a leader in their Campaigner Ministries children and youth work.
Neil is an award-winning and widely published writer. Over twenty-five years he has written for a range of mainstream media including The Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail, and Financial Mail on Sunday as well as Reuters and numerous magazines. How To Books published his first non-fiction title 100 Ways to Make Your Business a Success and he has recently added The Great British Property Scam.
He has also taught Creative Writing extensively for Blackpool and the Fylde College, The WEA, and Lancaster University and launched www.seasiderswrite.com a community-based creative writing project funded by Arts Council England. Writing as C.J.Neill he is also a published novelist.
You can find out more at www.neilbromage.com or drop him an email at neil@neilbromage.com
Neil Bromage, 29/12/2024