.....best

Missionaries to China in the last part of the Nineteenth century began to push into the unexplored interior of that great land. They found a community where the main crop was potatoes. They had a good climate and good soil, but their harvest was always little tiny potatoes. About the size of marbles. The natives said that big potatoes just did not grow there.

The newcomers said that surely some big potatoes grew there. "Oh yes, we do get a few now and then," they admitted.

"What do you do with them?"

"Well," the local farmers answered, "We eat them, of course. The big ones are the best."  They were planting the runts. They were planting the potatoes that had the genes that produced ever smaller crops.

They were systematically reducing their crop as they took the biggest and best for themselves. The missionaries showed them that only when you plant the big ones - plant the best you have - will you get bigger ones in return.

We smile at the ignorance of people who do not understand this most basic of principles. Yet, we often do the very same thing. We say, "I want to keep the best for myself.   Whatever is left - the little potatoes - I will give to God. If I have any left - the ones I do not want - I will let God have them."

What will you give God today - your best - or the leftovers?  

Today, make sure you give God your absolute best - your best worship, your best time, your best work.

Today, give God the best of everything you say, everything you do, everything you own and most importantly, give your very life as the best sacrifice you can offer to your savior.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a 'living sacrifice', holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."  Romans 12:1

- dave langerfeld