“He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.” (John 16:14)
Expanded Passage: John 16:12-16
A nonprofit arts organization in my town once received a generous donation of vases from a local potter as gifts to their volunteers. The nonprofit lacked the artistic abilities and financial resources to offer such gifts on their own, and in the weeks following the potter’s donation, the nonprofit’s staff praised the donor’s generosity in the local papers and on their website. At the volunteer appreciation party, they made sure that every person who received a vase knew where it came from. While they passed the gifts on to others, all of the credit belonged with the potter.
When we serve from our own resources, we not only shortchange the work God wants to do, but we also rob God of the glory. In letting God make himself known through us, we expand the possibilities of God’s work and give him an opportunity to draw the glory to himself. By ourselves we bring very little to what God plans to do, but thankfully, he has given us all he has. Think of the inexhaustible resources God has given us! There is enough to sustain and encourage us even in the darkest of trials. It’s no wonder Jesus shared these words of encouragement before going to the cross.
God desires to pass unfathomable gifts to others through us, but are we willing to step aside and let him?
Give God the glory as he provides the resources you need.
Ed C. previously served as a Light from the Word devotional writer.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
