Extravagance
by Roger Pook
In our family just after the war, ‘extravagance’ was not a good word. We lived in an age of economy, austerity, and rationing. To be extravagant meant to be thoughtless, wasteful, throwing away precious resources. We grew up learning to be very careful with food, with money, with time and effort, with everything.
God is not like this. Our God is a God of extravagance, pouring out precious things in abundance. He gave the Israelites in the desert more quails than they could eat. They ‘covered the camp’. Jesus multiplied the bread and fish so that there were twelve baskets of leftovers. God is ‘able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask and think’.
The ultimate extravagance was when God gave his only-begotten Son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
God calls us to be extravagant too. Do we work out carefully how much of our time and effort we are able to give to Him in praise, worship or service? Do we calculate our tithe to the nearest pound? Do we keep a careful eye on our possessions or resources, and lend or give them grudgingly? We need to consider what God has given us so abundantly and so extravagantly, and respond in the same way.
Prayer: Father, I am so thankful for Your extravagant love. Teach me to be extravagant in my worship, my service, my giving, and my love for You and for others. Amen.
Roger Pook For 21 years Roger Pook and his wife Christine served in Central and Eastern Europe, based in Hungary at the Úr Rétje centre of Ellel Ministries. From there they travelled and ministered across the length and breadth of the former communist world. In 2018 Roger retired as Regional Director and they now live back in the UK, where Roger still serves on the Executive Leadership and as a trustee of The Christian Trust. They still travel for the Kingdom!
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