What Will You Give Up to Come Here?

On the first Saturday at Bible College everyone was invited round on of the girl's houses for a BBQ. We were encouraged to think about what we were willing to give up for Bible College. Many people gave different things i.e. friends or jobs but I decided to give up money. For me going to Bible College means sacrificing all of my possessions. At first this was a difficult decision to make (taking 18 months), but now I am going through it I feel a bit like the men in Matthew 13:44-6.

 ⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.   ⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Now, because of the wedding I could not make the wedding itself and so I decided to give money to my flatmate so he could bring it in my place and represent what I am giving up. I looked into my wallet and there was just £10 in there, so I gave it to him representing giving God every penny I had. I gave it to him suspecting it to be returned at the end, but never mentioned it, and if he hadn't had I would not have asked. Jon went on the weekend and enjoyed himself, and I also enjoyed myself at the wedding.

The next day at KTC we were told that we needed to buy a book for the course by Richard Foster called life with God. I went onto Amazon and found a cheap used copy. When I went to check it out the price had gone up substantially (from about £6 to £10). I figured that this was postage or something and proceeded with paying, thinking it was a bit annoying that it wasn't as cheap as I had hoped.

A few days later I was sat in my room when my flatmate knocked on my door and asked if I had an envelope? Thinking nothing of it I said yes and gave him one. Moments later the door bell rang, it was our neighbour giving the book I had ordered which was delivered to him whilst we were at college. I went upstairs and opened it up, only to find that there were two copies inside (thus explaining why the price was almost doubled). I thought about returning the book, but then decided that Jon would need one so I went into his room and gave him the book.

Surprised, Jon began to rejoice as he gave the envelope back to me. It was addressed to me with the message:

Simon...

I was praying the other day about what you were saying about finance and then giving up the last of your money and I had these words

God shall honour and he shall provide so be blessed.

Inside the envelope was two £10 notes. I had given God the last of my money in my wallet as a symbolic representation of me giving all of my money to God this year. In the same way that Jon doubled my £10, I feel confident now that God will honour what I am sacrificing for this course and provide the other half. It was also amazing that we both gave to each other simultaneously. Jon gave up £10 as a prophetic image, and received a book with an RRP of £10 (£9.89 when I checked Amazon last), and I gave up my last £10 and received £20.

Many of us are giving things up for this year: old habits, unfruitful investments in time, fears, family, friends, the familiarity of normal life, jobs, relationships and churches. This has been a hard first few steps getting used to life in college, but we have a mighty God who is safe to give to, one who will never take advantage of us.


God guide
xSx

Update:

Since starting this blog I became a Counsellor. You can read more on blog on subjects like Therapy at:

 www.simonslistening.co.uk