spend·thrift

[spend-thrift]   noun

a person who spends possessions or money extravagantly or wastefully

Only two months after leaving Egypt, God’s children began to complain. They were hungry. Hungry children can be menacing.  They lose their sensibilities, become driven by the hunger pangs, and act irrationally.
“Would that we had died by the LORD’S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full ; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”  Exodus 16:3
God responded to their irrational complaints with rations–a daily shower of bread from heaven, enough to sustain them until the quail flew in at night. God’s instructions to them: eat it all! Don’t save any for tomorrow. In other words, today be a spendthrift.
The disciples asked Jesus how to pray. He taught them to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” Today. God, give us today what we need to eat today. Sounds a lot like manna in the wilderness.
In another place Jesus was teaching on worry when he made the statement,”Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)
Which brings us to Lamentations 3:

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  (3:21-24)

Like the manna, like the daily bread, God promises new mercies for every day of our lives. This morning God deposited enough mercies into the account of your life to get you through the day. His intention is that your account be emptied by the end of the day–you should use every mercy, spend every compassion. You cannot save today’s mercies for tomorrow’s messes.  You cannot reserve today’s compassions for tomorrow’s crises.

Be a spendthrift. Don’t hesitate to dip into your personal mercy account and draw out whatever you need. Don’t leave anything in the account when you put your head on the pillow tonight.

Tomorrow morning when you wake up your account will be full–again.

How do you practically do this? Two ways–talk to God and talk to yourself.

Ask God for whatever you need.  Don’t be afraid to ask.

Say to yourself, “The Lord is my portion (my sole provider).” If you don’t repeatedly tell yourself God is committed to taking care of you, you’ll try to do in your own power what God alone can do. The right self talk is necessary. Being a spendthrift of the mercies of God doesn’t come naturally. Our pride inhibits us from making withdrawals. Our self sufficiency puts a hold on God’s mercy account. Our tendency to believe God needs us will keep us from asking for His help when we need Him.

Say to yourself, “The Lord is my portion.”

Be a spendthrift today.

And tomorrow…

And the next day…

You get the point.

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