Nougat 28

I truly enjoy getting feedback from you all. It tells me that the reflection resonates with someone, and often, I learn from you through your responses. Dora’s comment, ‘God’s investment’, got me thinking. I did a bit of research and kept getting pointed to one text. Please consider Today’s Holy Nougat.

‭Romans 11:29 NLT‬

[29] For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.

Lifetime Investment

For our definition today, given that God’s Spirit is non-material (i.e., not physically tangible), I use the Oxford Languages online version, which states, an act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result. (I admit that with the definition, I thought of Luke’s parable of the barren fig tree, not our nougat. For the farmer planted the tree as an investment, with the clear expectation that it would produce fruit and increase his wealth. When this did not happen, the farmer sought to destroy the unproductive tree. But his chief gardener begged for the tree to be saved, and the farmer relented. Isn’t that an amazing analogy for our lives?).

What endeared me about our Nougat today is the duration and constancy of God’s investment. Did you realize that it said ‘never’. As in, forever and a day; even when eternity comes, God’s effort and energy continue to be present and at work in us. Such is the nature of God’s Spirit.

The wider context of the pericope (section of scripture) reads

‬Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. (Romans 11:30-31 NLT) This assures me that God is keen on us operating in our calling and gifting.

It also reminds us that we are all called by God. Some of us may opt to ignore God’s call, but ignoring God doesn’t make God’s call less real. We may be unaware of the gifts (I sometimes use gifting to distinguish between God’s Spirit and the manifestation of God’s Spirit) at work in us, but that also doesn’t negate the giftings being present in us.

Now, let’s keep it real – God’s gifts and call will not be withdrawn by God – but many of us who are aware of our gifting are guilty of stifling the gift. Yup. Sometimes we do crazy stuff like that. And we’re warned against that. A few times. Jesus had parables referring to investment, including the ungrateful servant. For me, it’s the most pointed, as it tells us that: a) God gifts us according to our measure of faith, some got 5, 2, or 1 talent – it wasn’t all the same (or 10, 5, and 1 depending on which Gospel version being read); and b) there comes a day when we become accountable to God for God’s investment. I think that’s about how we use our giftings in response to God’s call on our lives. That day may not necessarily be sweetness and light for all. The servant who’d opted to bury the seed was punished!

If you think, as I did initially, that there is a discrepancy between ‘never’ and the parable, recognise this: when we’re called into account, Time’s Up. There’s no more time to work. We’d be at the point of reckoning going into eternity. God seems to choose others to invest in when we ignore God’s investment; but it’s really that the other person readily accepted God’s call.

So what are we doing about God’s energy and effort at work in us since we accept Jesus into our lives as Savior? How’s the returns on God’s lifetime investment? Selah

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May all we seek be found in Christ