I have always had little tolerance for individuals with deep resources but shallow initiative. I’m sure this is because of the times I have felt my river of initiative dammed up by a wall of limited resources. It’s sad to say, but both cases are tragedies because nothing great gets done.

Think about it. You have some who would like to do something great but don’t believe they have deep enough pockets. So, while they sit and fume over what could be if they just had the resources, nothing is tried and nothing gets done. On the other hand, you have those with deep pockets but no drive. They have the resources to do something great, but they sit in a coma, void of initiative. And, again, nothing is tried and nothing gets done.

Both of these cases are common tragedies of the spiritual life. On the one hand you have some Christians with great and sincere aspirations. You want to be a part of a great work with God. Yet, you feel you don’t have the resources to get it done. Your pockets aren’t deep enough. What you need is a fresh look into your spiritual pockets. You need a reminder of resources at your disposal—resources from the glory of God. Others of you are fully aware of the deep pockets you have with God. You know that the resources at your disposal are limitless, but somewhere you lost your initiative. You lost the desire to do something great with the riches of God’s glory at your disposal. You need fresh direction on what to do with the deep pockets you have.

Well, let’s do this. Let’s look at each case, and let’s turn each tragedy around to produce a lifestyle that enjoys and experiences the greatness of God.

Deep Initiative But Shallow Pockets

First, let’s address those of you who have deep initiative, but feel you have shallow pockets. You believe you don’t have the resources to do what’s on your heart. Let’s take a fresh look in your pockets. In Ephesians 1:18-20, Paul says:

18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is the same as my desire for you. He wants the eyes of their heart to be enlightened to see the riches of God they possess within. I want you to take a fresh look into your spiritual pockets and see how God has stuffed them full.

Pockets Full Of Hope
According to Paul, the first treasure you will find in your pockets is hope. This is the hope of your calling, or salvation. Paul wrote in verse 18, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.” When you accepted Christ, what did you hope to experience?

• Did you hope to experience the security of eternal life?
• Did you hope to experience a release from guilt?
• Did you hope to experience the filling of an emptiness?
• Did you hope to experience a new and meaningful direction in life?
• Did you hope to experience an intimate and everlasting relationship with God?

Just as you hoped to experience these with God, God hoped that you would experience them with Him. These experiences, and so many more, are what God hopes you will experience in life with Him. They are the experiences He stuffs in your pockets when you surrender your life to Him.

Pockets Full Of God’s Self-worth
If you have surrendered your life to Christ, you also have in your pockets something everyone has wanted since childhood. You have God’s complete acceptance.

You need to read Ephesians 1:18 slowly or you’ll misinterpret it. Paul says that you are “the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints.” Don’t mistake this verse with Romans 8:17 where it tells that you are joint heirs with Christ—that you inherit all God has given Christ. Paul does not want you to look at particular treasures in your pockets, though they are there. He wants you to know that you are a treasure in God’s pocket. Paul does not want you to look at what you get from God. He wants you to understand who you are to God. You are God’s inheritance. You, and all who believe in Him, are a treasure to God. Knowing this should fill your spiritual self-esteem. It should spread your pockets wide and tight with a spiritual self-worth.

Pockets Full Of Immortality
In Ephesians 1:19-20, Paul identifies one more treasure in your pocket—immortality. He says you have in you the same power that raised Christ from the dead. With so many searching for the answer to what happens after you die, you have a proven answer. You have living in you the only individual to promise to rise from the dead and do it. You have in your pocket the proven promise of immortality.

There are other treasures in your spiritual pockets that are priceless pieces of God’s greatness. The sad reality is that you may have had these treasures for so long you have forgotten what is in your pockets. Though it would seem impossible for you to forget you possess such treasures, it has happened before.

William Randolph Hearst, a great man of wealth, once read of a priceless piece of art and decided to add it to his collection. So, he instructed his agent to scour the galleries of the world, find it, and buy it. He told the agent to buy it at any price because his pockets were deep enough. After months of painstaking search the agent returned to Hearst with his finding. He told Hearst that after all his searching for this priceless work of art, he learned that Hearst already possessed it. It had been stored in one of his warehouses for many years.

The same can happen to you. You have the treasures of God in your pockets for so long you forget what you have. If Hearst had conducted periodic inventories of his priceless collections he would have known he had this treasure. If we would conduct a periodic inventory of our pockets, we would know the treasures we possess from God.

Take Inventory Of Your Pockets
One way to inventory your spiritual pockets is to ask questions. Here are three effective inventory questions.

First, “WHAT HOPES HAS GOD FULFILLIED?” This helps you look in your pockets to inventory all you have received from God. Has He fulfilled your hopes of …

• Forgiveness? – He promised to forgive your sins and remember them no more (1 John 1:9)
• Fulfillment? – He promised life to the full with Him (John 10:10)
• Future? – He promised a life with Him now and for eternity (John 10:25-30)
• Faithfulness? – He promised to be with you always (Matthew 28:18-20)

These are just some of the experiences God has promised to fulfill. Are they there?

Second, “HOW VALUABLE ARE YOU TO GOD?” This question helps you open your pockets and itemize all God has done for you because you are valuable to Him. Are you valuable enough to God for Him to…

• Personally Come? – Christ left His position and comfort of heaven to come for you.
• Pay Your Price? – Christ, though perfect and innocent, died because of your sin.
• Promise Acceptance? – Christ promised unconditional acceptance for your unconditional surrender.
• Provide Your Needs and Protect You? – Christ promised to never leave you as an orphan, but to be with you and in you always.

God never promised to be the Sugar Daddy to spoil you. But, God did promise to be the heavenly Father to support you—for you are valuable to Him.

Third, “WHAT CAN THIS WORLD TAKE FROM YOU THAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU?” This is the ultimate inventory question. It itemizes the lasting value of all God has placed in your spiritual pockets. Can the world take from you,

Your forgiveness from God? Your fulfillment with God? Your future with God? God’s faithfulness to you?

God’s personal involvement with you? The sacrifice Christ made for you? The acceptance Christ promises you? Christ’s provisions and protection for you?

It is good to run through this final inventory because it decreases the fear factor and increases the initiative factor. Once we realize that no one can rob us of our deep pockets with God, we will act upon the initiatives God gives us. We will attempt great things for God because we will expect great things from God.

Deep Pockets But Shallow Initiative

The second tragedy that needs to be addressed concerns those who know they have deep pockets but have lost their initiative. They don’t know what to do with what they have. But that wasn’t the case with Aunt Em. The following letter to Ann Landers is too good not to read.

Dear Ann Landers,

The letter from the woman married to the tightwad—she couldn’t get an extra quarter from him—reminded me of my wonderful aunt who was beautifully warmhearted and had a great sense of humor.

Aunt “Emma” was married to a tightwad who was also a little strange. He made a good salary, but they lived frugally because he insisted on putting 20% of his paycheck under the mattress. (The man didn’t trust banks.) The money, he said, was going to come in handy in their old age.

When “Uncle Ollie” was 60, he was stricken with cancer. Toward the end, he made Aunt Em promise, in the presence of his brothers, that she would put the money he had stashed away in his coffin so he could buy his way into heaven if he had to.

They all knew he was a little odd, but this was truly a crazy request. Aunt Em did promise, however, and assured Uncle Ollie’s brothers that she was a woman of her word and would do as he asked.

The following morning she took the money (about $26,000) to the bank and deposited it. She then wrote a check and put it in the casket four days later.

This is a true story and our family has laughed about it ever since.

I tell you this story as a humorous testimonial of a woman who knew what to do with the treasures she had. The tragedy, however, is that many of us don’t seem to have the same creative initiative with the treasures we possess from God. We don’t know what to do with the deep pockets we have. Therefore, let me offer the following suggestions.

Take Initiative And Give
The first suggestion surfaces from the Christians in Philippi. It is to use the deep pockets God has given you and take initiative and give. In Philippians 4:14-16,19-20, Paul states,

14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need… 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The Philippians give the first example of what to do with deep pockets. It is “giving.” The Philippians weren’t the richest of churches. In fact, the majority of members in the New Testament churches were comprised of the poor and struggling. Yet though poor and struggling, they lived life and gave as though they had deep pockets. The blessing was theirs because they gave.

There have been times when someone has handed me a check and said, “Pastor, use this for whatever you see the church needs.” If it is a sizeable check and I don’t have a clear direction about the need, I ask the financial secretary to set up a prayer account. In my opinion, God would not have provided the gift if He didn’t have a plan for using it. Inevitably, an unexpected need or opportunity surfaces within the church that matches the gift given.

God gifts some financially, God gifts some physically with talents and abilities, and God gifts all Christians spiritually with select spiritual gifts. Have you ever prayed and asked God why He has gifted you financially, physically, or spiritually? God doesn’t gift us for retirement. He gifts us for now. Ask God to show you why He has gifted you. Then take the initiative with the gifts God has given you, and give them toward God’s work.

Take Initiative And Serve
The second example emerges from Paul’s personal example. Again, it is to use the deep pockets God has given you and then take the initiative and “serve.”

I once read that before the citizens of High Wycombe, England, elect a new mayor or town councilors they weigh them. The purpose behind this long-standing tradition is simple. If those who held office weigh the same or less than when they took office they are applauded and possibly re-elected. It means they had not grown fat by not serving the people.

One would never have to worry about Paul’s work ethic in serving God. Though Paul at one time worked part-time for Aquilla and Priscilla, he didn’t have steady income. However, he continued serving God as though he was a man with deep pockets. He felt it was his responsibility to serve God and God would take care of him.

Paul’s initiative in serving God could almost be categorized in three phases. His MISSIONARY PHASE was first. This took about ten years, covering four Roman provinces. Paul’s CHURCH PLANNING PHASE was second. Though this was part of his missionary phase it involved evangelizing, equipping, and organizing new Christians to start churches. The PRISON PHASE was Paul’s third. As a prisoner, Paul witnessed to his jailor (Acts 16) and Roman officials (Acts 24-26), as well as wrote letters to the churches he helped start. God inspired those letters and most now comprise our New Testament.

Though we know we have deep pockets with God, many of us still let our circumstances negate our initiative in serving God. Yet, this is what we learn from Paul:

• In spite of the distance, you go!
• In spite of the resistance, you plant!
• In spite of the restrictions, you pray, witness, and write.
• In spite of it all, you trust your deep pockets with God and serve.

One of the amazing realities of Paul’s life with God was he never had to generate opportunities to serve. They came to him because he, with his initiative, was looking for them.

Many of us might be embarrassed if God weighed us on spiritual scales. We may have grown fat sitting instead of serving. Paul would say, “Use the deep pockets God has given you. Take the initiative and serve, and God will bring the opportunities to you.”

Take Initiative And Glorify God
The third lesson of what to do with deep pockets is a combination of the two examples by the Philippians and Paul. It is to use your deep pockets from God to “glorifying Him.” Paul’s statement in verse twenty reveals the motive behind both of their actions. Paul said, “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” The only motive for living life with deep pockets is to use the riches and resources of God to glorify Him—to reveal His greatness to the world. When we do this on a regular basis, our lives are like a sponge in God’s hand.

One of my jobs while in seminary was cleaning seminary housing. My sister-in-law called me the best-educated commode cleaner in Texas. One of the tools of the trade was a sponge. It was a wonderful tool when filled with cleaner or water. I could scrub with it, clean with it, rinse with it as long as it was wet and workable in my hand. Yet when I would pick it up after placing it on the shelf it had become hard and unworkable. The only way to make it useable again was to immerse it in the water or cleaner and work it in my hand once more.

In many ways, our lives with God are like a sponge. If we stay on the shelf, we become hard and unworkable to God. The only way to become useful and productive is to put ourselves in God’s hand and let Him immerse us in His deep pockets and initiative. And then, simply let Him use us as we give and serve. When we do, we will find God immersing us in His greatness and squeezing it out of us. The more we allow Him to use us, the more His greatness flows through us, and the more He accomplishes because we remain workable in His hand.

Sad And Glad With Deep Pockets

Every Christian has been given deep pockets with God, yet what we do with our deep pockets can either be a triumph or a tragedy. The triumph involves combining the deep pockets with a deep initiative to produce a work that reveals the greatness of God. The tragedy occurs when you live with shallow pockets or shallow initiative and one day ask yourself, “What if?”

William Cunningham, advisor to former Gov. George Deukmejian of California, told the following parable.

A man was out walking in the desert when a voice said to him, “Pick up some pebbles and put them in your pocket, and tomorrow you will be both sorry and glad.”

The man obeyed. He stooped down and picked up a handful of pebbles and put them in his pocket. The next morning he reached into his pocket and found diamonds and rubies and emeralds. And he was both glad and sorry. Glad that he had taken some, but sorry that he hadn’t taken more.

I see this parable working for Christians, but with this change. Our pockets are full of the riches of the glory of God. And as we reach into them and remind ourselves of what we have, we run the risk of being glad and sorry. We are glad that we have them, but sorry we aren’t living our lives more as though we do.

If you have deep initiative to see the greatness of God, then live it out realizing you have deep pockets from God. If you know you have deep pockets, but don’t know what to do with what you have, give from your pockets, serve with your pockets, and do everything to glorify God. Do all this to change the end of the parable. Then as you reach into your pockets and see the riches you possess in God, you are glad and glad. Glad you have them, and glad you live life as though you do.