Gifts and Talents

           After twenty-five years Abraham and Sarah had received the promised son. When Issac was a teenager God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. Abraham did not question or argue with God. Abraham took two young men and his son Isaac on a three day journey and came to the place God had told him to go. He told the two young men to wait at the foot of the mountain and he took his son to the place God had told him. Isaac asked his father where was the lamb for the sacrifice. Abraham answered and said God will provide. He bound his son and placed him on the altar. He raised his knife to slay his son and a voice from heaven spoke and said not to slay him. There was a ram stuck in a briar bush. God said, because you have obeyed Me, I will bless you and make you a father of many nations.

      Jesus was in the garden praying the night before the crucifixion. He asked God if there was a way that the cup could pass from Him. He knew what was ahead of Him. Nevertheless, He said Not My will, but Your will be done.

      I had an uncle, John Baldwin, who had two daughters. The oldest one, Bonnie, was thirteen years old and was in the hospital with a deadly disease (cystic fibrosis). Her father was not a Christian. She asked her father to give his life to Jesus, so she could see him in Heaven after she died. He did become a Christian and lived a Christian life, and died just a few years ago.

      We all have people or things we do not want to give up.We will hang onto those things with all of our life. We say we can’t live without that person or thing. We cannot take any thing with us after we die. So what is the problem? We become too attached to the people and things in our life. We have to be willing to let go of some people or things.

      God will sometimes ask us to put some one, or our possessions on the alter. We may lose a spouse or a child. We may have become attached to the money we have accumulated. There are many things we have become attached. We say we can’t live without that person, or our possessions. A child is the hardest thing to let go of. Our children should outlive us. But when they do go, we have to let them go, and to put our trust in God. There are many things that God will ask us to put on the altar. We don’t want to, but it is the best thing we should do. Every one and every thing we have, we should be able to put on the altar. We are in God’s Hands and we will trust Him with all that we have.

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      New King James Version
Genesis 22:4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
8 And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 ¶ But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am."
12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided."
15 ¶ Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
16 and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son --
17 "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

      New King James Version
Matthew 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."