Teacher Devotions: A Loving Handful

John 3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

I’m the eldest son in my family and in Scotland that means I would have been given the responsibility of looking after my father’s estate. But because I live in America, that wasn’t possible, and so my Dad entrusted it all to my brother Andy.

Andy did a terrific job with what was entrusted to his care. He saw to all the funeral arrangements, the bills that had to be paid, and all of the hundreds of loose ends that had to be tied up. In fact, Andy did a better job of it than I ever could, and my Dad would have been proud of how he handled everything.

Even to this day, Andy looks after the royalties that are still paid on my Dad’s books. Every year, Andy receives them from the publishers and he carefully distributes them to all of the family. In this way, he honors my dad and does what it fair.

I love the fact that God placed everything into Christ’s hands. He knew that Jesus would fulfill His obligations and complete the task of salvation. God had made promises to His people for thousands of years, and when at last He placed them into Christ’s hands, God was giving Jesus the responsibility of keeping God’s Word. It was an awesome thing to do and we are blessed because Jesus did what was required of Him.

Christ honored God by perfectly accomplishing His mission. And we are the benefactors of that complete trust and obedience. If Jesus had wavered one little bit from His task, we would never have been forgiven by God. If He had left one single thing undone, we could never be restored to God’s goodness, perfection, and holy love. God placed everything in Christ’s hands because He loved Him. And Christ returned that love because He completed all that He was told to do.

Christ’s continues that mission by placing into our hands opportunities, responsibilities, and tasks that both honor God and expand His Kingdom. He does this because He loves us. The question for us today is this: are we willing to return that love by completing all that He entrusts to us?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for completing all that God expected of You when He placed everything into Your hands. We are truly grateful for all that You did, for Your accomplishments have brought us eternal blessings. Empower and enable us to fulfill all that You call us to undertake for God’s Kingdom and His glory. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.