In Love!
What do you love to do? What are you passionate about?
A person’s passions will determine their priorities and plans. People live for what they love.
One of the ways to know what someone is passionate about is to pay attention to what they say, what they do, and the commitments they make and keep. Words and actions always reveal what’s in someone’s heart.
As followers of Jesus Christ, our goal is to become more like Him. We not only should learn the lessons Jesus taught, we should also seek to develop a heart like His. We should be passionate about the things He’s passionate about. If our heart is like His heart and our passions are like His passions, our attitudes and actions will be what they ought to be. It’s all about the heart!
One of the passions of God’s heart is giving. God is a Giver. He loves to give. We can truly say that He’s “in love with” giving!
The giving nature of God is seen all through the pages of the Bible. He generously gives provision, wisdom, help, forgiveness, life, healing, restoration, deliverance and answers to prayers. He gave us the greatest gift of all — His very own Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus not only taught about the giving nature of God, He demonstrated it by giving His life for us. He also encouraged and commanded us to develop a giving heart. Take a look at some of His words about giving:
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. — Luke 6:38 (NIV)
… remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” — Acts 20:35 (NIV)
he writer of Proverbs reminded us of God’s passion as a giver and our calling to be passionate about giving:
Some people are always greedy for more, but the godly love to give! — Proverbs 21:26 (NLT)
Here we clearly see that one of the characteristics of God is giving. To be “godly,” we must become “givers” too. Our goal is to “love to give and to live to give!”
What do you love to do? What are you passionate about? Is giving something you are “in love with?”
How do we “fall in love with giving?” Start giving! Stretch your generosity. It’s pleasantly and positively addictive! Jesus said it’s the pathway to a blessed life!
Dale O'Shields
For more information, visit the Church of the Redeemer's website.
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