My not-so-favorite morning radio team came out with a statement that made me cringe.
The female of the duo said, “With Easter coming, I realized that many people only have a small basket for God to fill. We expect God to fill our baskets with blessings, and then only hold out a small one for Him to fill.”
I listened intently, waiting for some form of redemptive statement, but it was not to be. She continued, “If we truly trusted God to bless us, we would be holding out a bigger basket for Him to fill to the brim with blessings.”
I sank back in my seat, disappointed that so many people were listening to her as if she actually had authority because she sat behind a microphone.
Her co-host chimed in, assuring her that we all too often sell God short, and don’t have more because we don’t expect or ask for more.
We receive so many blessings in this country that citizens from all over the world come to our promised land just for a taste of the best.
But even though that is the case, we are telling our fellow Christians to hold out a bigger basket so that God can pile more stuff into it.
Instead of wishing we had more, we should be taking what’s in our baskets and giving to those in need.
I can’t imagine what God must think of us—He fills our cups to overflowing, and instead of giving it to the poor, we run back with bigger cups.
This reversed theology is easily remedied, however—instead of asking for God to give us more, we need to give what we have away. His promise for our faithfulness in this is powerful—we will have much more in this life and in the life to come.
In Luke 18:29-30 we read Jesus’ words;
And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
It seems much wiser to do my best to keep my basket empty, rather than hold it higher in the air, waiting for God to fill it with riches. I seriously doubt I can keep up with His blessings anyway.