Josh McDowell's Youth DevotionsSample

APPLES, BEES, AND CHEDDAR CHEESE. If you were to make a list of the things God has given you, how long would it take you? An hour? Two hours? A day? A week? It's easy to forget how generous God has been to us. He's given us family and friends and things like freedom and fun and food (and those are just some of the words that start with f). In fact, God's generosity spans the whole alphabet: Apples Bees Cheddar Cheese Dalmatians Eyesight Frothy Seas Ginkgo Trees Honeydew Melons Ice Jelly Beans Kiwi Fruit Licorice Music Noses Orchids Playful Puppies Quilts Rivers Spectacular Sunsets Teeth Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) Vines Winter Sunshine X rays Yesterdays Zucchini When we stop just a moment to think about it, it's not hard to see that God's generosity is impossible to measure. His generosity is astounding. He didn't have to give us anything. He didn't have to bless us with apples, bees, and cheddar cheese! He could've stopped giving us good things after creating sunrises and summer breezes-but he kept going, all the way to zebras, zephyrs, zinc, zinnias, and zwieback look it up; it's in the dictionary! But that's the kind of God he is. Generosity is a part of God's nature. That's what makes generosity right: It's like God. REFLECT: A popular old gospel song says that God "giveth, and giveth, and giveth again." What do you think that means? What makes God so generous? Generosity is right because it's like God. Can you ever be as generous as God? Why or why not? Can you be more generous than you are now? If not, why not? If so, how? ACT: Make your own list of God's generosity, using each letter of the alphabet. You might even try to make two lists: one of God's generosity to everyone and the second listing God's generosity to you specifically, including names of friends, family members, favorite songs, and so on. PRAY: Go through your list, from A to 1, praising God for his generosity.