Today I received an email from Esteban Jimenez addressed to everyone at Tribu. His story seemed so important and real to me, that I thought it could contribute to you as it did to me. So here it goes:

GIVING IT ALL AWAY, by Esteban Jiménez

On Wednesday, after the study I stayed up late talking. At midnight, I went to put gas in the car and when I was about to pay, my card was not working, I had lost it! It was very strange, because God always makes everything work out well for me. I didn’t understand why something like that happened to me, if I always have God’s special protection.

So I left some valuable things with the girl at the pump to go to the house to bring the money. For the first time in my life, the bible was on the seat of the pair, and it was the only thing that was there, and I told her: here, I leave you this bible, with it you pay the debt three times! She asked for my name and I told her: here is my ID card! And she asked me for the watch, and I: aww… I didn’t want to leave it with her, but I had to, it was part of the deal.
So I went home, I brought the money, and on the way God told me: Esteban, this was not by chance, I made it happen, and the things you left mean something. And I understood very clearly the message that God revealed to me. It was incredible.
The Bible means the word of God and faith, to believe in him and accept him. The card means our identity, to be Christians and to allow God to do his will in us, and the clock, clearly, means time.

So, for us to give God everything is very easy, just as I gave everything. We give the bible; we believe in it as the word of God, and we believe in Jesus as the redeemer. We give the card; we accept to be Christians, and let God change who we are, we are born again. But when God asks us for time: aww… we don’t want to. He tells us: read every day for a long time, with constancy: aww…. Be happy, go to bible study and meet more days: aww… Pray for a while every day, in the morning, at night and during the whole day: aww… go to social activities on weekends: aww… go to social activities to integrate yourself to the body of Christ: aww… visit people that need Me: aww… take time to worship Me: aww….

But God doesn’t want us to hurt to give Him the time, we have to give it all equally. And that is non-negotiable. It’s part of the deal, it’s a requirement to pay off the debt. The debt that Jesus paid on the cross. I couldn’t tell the woman at the pump that I wouldn’t give her my watch, it was part of the deal to pay off my debt, likewise we can’t tell God, we don’t give him our time, because it’s part of the deal to pay off the debt. There is no choice.

Finally the order in which I gave the things means something too: first I gave the bible, then the watch and finally the card. It means that we are going to believe in God, we are going to give him our time and finally he will give us a new identity, we will be who we want to be, and we will achieve what we dream of. Incredible things will be part of our life. According to Jeremiah 29:11; I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for your harm, to give you a future full of hope. I, the Lord, affirm it.

I hope this message has been a blessing to your lives.