Learning to Give

It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything. The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will be refreshed themselves. (Proverbs 11:24-25 NLT)

Everything we have is given to us by God: our lives, families, jobs, food, everything. At the beginning of time, God gave Adam life, the necessities to sustain life, and gave him Eve to share it with. God is still giving. God gave His only Son to die on a cross for our remission of sins. He continues to give His love, provisions, blessings, healings, and forgiveness. He richly blesses us at a continuous rate, not because we earn it or deserve it but because He loves us.

Giving is a way to express love. When we love, we want to give. We want to perform acts of compassion. We want to give friendship and loyalty.

Giving benefits everyone involved. This could be blessing someone with our time, talents, finances, love, attention, and/or prayers. The possibilities are limitless. We get blessed when we give and the person receiving gets blessed by what we give. It's a win-win situation.

Luke 6:38 explains if you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving- large or small - it will be used to measure what is given back to you.

The duty of a good steward is to give oneself to and for the service of our Lord. It is important to give freely, not expecting anything in return. Don't be greedy or selfish. Give cheerfully, with love. It is also important to be consistent with giving for this will be pleasing to the Lord.

If you have been blessed financially, give of your finances to help benefit someone in need. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, or support missions. Use what the Lord has given you to make a difference. —Cindie York

Landscape

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58 NAS)

Life changing events happen at the strangest of times. They throw us off balance and leave us wondering what happened. Whether they are good or bad, the one thing they do is to change the landscape of our lives.

I remember being in awe of this very fact when I went to Parys. Before making the decision to go there I had no idea about the geological significance of the area and what had taken place at that very site. The Vrederfort dome area was the site of one of five earth changing extinction level events that scientists believe have changed the landscape of our planet. A massive asteroid hit our planet at that exact point and changed everything.

The strange thing is that this is all just part of nature. We don't want to believe that something like this is normal, but in the scale of our universe it most certainly is. If you are in the middle of a life changing event, hang on tight to God and he will guide you through the change. —Ronwyn Hughes

Stain

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: (Hebrews 12:14 NKJV)

Imagine a situation where a person is walking on the road wearing a pure white dress, his attempt all through the journey should be to avoid the dress getting stained by the innumerable opportunities available on the way and he needs to be more careful when he is walking through a passage or lane filled with dirt, filth and everything available to make his dress dirty.

Today, we are living in an age where sin is easily available, many countries, societies and groups of people have indulged themselves in sinful activities to such an extent that continuing in them has become the normal trend amongst them, earlier when people could call on God and were dedicated to Him in the little they had, God blessed them and they had great contentment, peace and solace, however now with more of everything, the people have forgotten God and thus discontentment, hatred, strife, lack of peace and many other unblessedness rule their hearts and lives.

God has not changed all these days, He is the same powerful to redeem, ready to forgive and willing to restore us always.

With God's help it is perfectly possible to move ahead in the blessedness and sanctity that God has desired of us.

Take note of this, the world will pull us to sin and it may also present a blessed future with the stains of sin, however we have to pursue/decide/yearn for holiness, failing which we will never be able to see our blessed Lord and for such who sin and love to live in sin is reserved the eternal hell, yet for those who pursue holiness and do it with God's help is reserved the eternal heaven and blessedness with the Lord ... the choice is our's, we have to pursue it, we have to maintain our sanctity. —Abraham Pulickal

Celebrities Online

Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. (Matthew 14:13 NAS)

Many of us are in a sense like celebrities online. We join social networks and leave behind trails of digital footprints of what we do and where we visit on the Internet. Our movements are tracked down by our followers and we are ‘stalked’ by different kinds of people. If we leave trails because we desire attention or to be followed, we might just get our reward or lose our credibility in full, depending on how well we behave online.

Jesus during His ministry on earth was famed for His teachings and the miracles He performed. Even when He withdrew to a secluded place to be alone to pray, frequently the crowd would track Him down. Jesus did not turn them away or see them as invading his private life but felt compassion for them and healed their sick (Matthew 14:13-14). Although He received inordinate attention wherever He went, Jesus did not feel annoyed that He was stalked. Even when Jesus saw the crowd that came to watch the spectacle—His humiliation on the Cross—before He breathed His last, He did not resent them. Instead, He prayed for them saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34, 48).

Such was the contrast between staged publicity and the other of genuine love and care for the public.

Are we making ourselves famous for the wrong reasons or are we doing it out of concern for others? Not all things in life can be done in secret, so we need not hide what must be done, even in public. Our intent is what matters most—are we doing it to show off or to care?

Mold us, dear Lord, to become more like You in reaching out to others with love and compassion rather than to bring popularity or fame to ourselves.

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Are we doing good to show off or to care?