SEEKING BETTER THINGS

"By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. . . . But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." (Hebrews 7:22; 8:6)

Devotion 21 of 26

WHEN LITTLE IS BETTER

In Christ, everything is "better." We have a "better covenant,"
"better promises," and a "better hope." The church has been given "better gifts," the prospect of a "better country," and the hope of a "better resurrection." We have been provided a "better sacrifice," blood that speaks "better things," and the provision of something "better" than any that lived before this marvelous day of salvation.

It should not surprise us that everything about life in Christ is "better." Every facet of life is enhanced by faith. Beyond all controversy, "old things are passed away," and "all things are become new" (2 Cor 5:17).

There is a marvelous statement couched in the Psalms that confirms the blessedness of being the sons of God. "A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked" (Psa 37:16). How true the Solomonic expression: "The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just" (Prov 3:33). And again, "Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right" (Prov 16:8).

Jesus referred to that "little" as "daily bread" (Matt 6:11). Paul referred to it as "godliness with contentment," declaring it to be "great gain" (1 Tim 6:6). It is possible to "know how to" be "hungry" as well as "full," and know how to "suffer need" as well as "abound." As it is written, "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil 4:12-13).

This is a condition the world cannot understand: "A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked." God can so bless "a little" that all of your needs are met, while the ungodly can have an abundance, yet suffer need. It is possible to earn a superabundance of wages, only "to put it into a bag with holes" (Hag 1:6). Men can hew large cisterns, only to find they end up "broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer 2:13). God can breathe upon the goods of the unrighteous, causing the fulfillment of Job 20:28. "The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath."

But what marvelous things can be done with "a little that a righteous man has." When a small boy with five loaves and two fishes" gives them to Jesus, five thousand men, besides women and children, can sit down and prepare to eat until they are filled, leaving more after the meal than there was at the beginning (Mk 6:41-43).

A woman with a "handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse," can be gathering "two sticks" for a final meal for herself and her son. But when she devotes the first "little cake" to the prophet of God, her barrel of meal and small jar of oil will last through a lengthy famine, supplying adequate food for herself, her son, and Elijah the prophet (1 Kings 17:12-16).

The taste of "little honey" could so strengthen Jonathan, that his eyes were enlightened, and a fatigued army given encouragement to accomplish a mighty victory over their foes(1 Sam 14:29-31). "Little" armies like that of Gideon have overturned what seemed to be vastly superior military forces (Judges 7). Again and again the Scriptures confirm, "A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked."

I do not know your portion in this life, but if you are in Christ Jesus, you have the advantage. God can make your "little" go farther than the "much" of the wicked. You can get more done for the glory of God with a "little," than pretenders can with a seeming abundance. There is more resources, more satisfaction, and more benefit in a little that is possessed by faith, than in a mountain of wealth possessed in unbelief.

PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, teach me to be content with a little, that my soul can delight itself in true fatness.

-- Tomorrow: YOU CAN BE BETTER --