Are you a giant....or a Burden?

Thought for the day

After dinner, the children turned to Jacob and asked if he would tell them a story. "A story about what?" asked Jacob. "About a giant," squealed the children. Jacob smiled, leaned against the warm stones at the side of the fireplace, and his voice turned softly inward.

"Once there was a boy who asked his father to take him to see the great parade that passed through the village. The father, remembering the parade from when he was a boy, quickly agreed, and the next morning the boy and his father set out together. "As they approached the parade route, people started to push in from all sides, and the crowd grew thick. When the people along the way became almost a wall; the father lifted his son and placed him on his shoulders.

"Soon the parade began and as it passed, the boy kept telling his father how wonderful it was and how spectacular were the colors and images. The boy, in fact, grew so prideful of what he saw that he mocked those who saw less saying, even to his father, 'If only you could see what I see.'" "But," said Jacob staring straight in the faces of the children, "what the boy did not look at was why he could see. What the boy forgot was that once his father, too, could see.

"Then as if he had finished the story, Jacob stopped speaking. "Is that it?" said a disappointed girl. "We thought you were going to tell us a story about a giant." "But I did," said Jacob. "I told you a story about a boy who could have been a giant." "How?" squealed the children.

"A giant," said Jacob," is anyone who remembers we are all sitting on someone else's shoulders." "And what does it make us if we don't remember?" asked the boy. "A burden," answered Jacob. We all have been richly blessed by those who have gone before us. As a family member, I recognize that I have grandparents and parents who through much sacrifice and effort have given me the opportunity to do things that they couldn't even dream of doing. As a citizen of South Africa, I owe a great debt of gratitude to those who gave their lives for the freedoms I am able to enjoy. And as a Christian, I look back on so many others (both in recent years and in biblical times) who laid a foundation of faith that gives me the encouragement to draw closer to God myself.

I pray that I will never forget that I am sitting on someone else's shoulders." And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented -- of whom the world was not worthy..... Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." (Heb. 11:35b-38a;12:1)

Are you a giant......or a burden?

Verses

Matthew 8:13

And Jesus said to the Army Captain, "Go; the result shall be as you have believed it can be." And the man-servant recovered at that moment.

Isaiah 53:5

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being [fell] upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

Revelation 12:11

"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Colossians 4:2

Attend to your prayers, maintain your zest for prayer by thanksgiving;

Psalm 34:9-10

Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good.

Prayer

Father, we ascribe to You glory and honor and power and strength due Your name. We rejoice in our salvation made possible through the incarnation of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who came to redeem humankind from their wretched sin. For, at just the right time, while we were still powerless and dead in our sins, Jesus died for us. God, You demonstrated Your love for us, in that You credited righteousness to us through Christ's death, and justified us from sin. Your wondrous love is truly amazing and we can only respond by dedicating to You our soul, our life, our all! Amen.