Thursday March 1
If Christ came to reveal to us the character of God, one thing should be clear by now: God loves us, and He wants only the best for us. He asks us to do only what would be for our own benefit, never to our detriment. This would include, too, His call for us to be generous and cheerful givers of what we have been given. The freewill and generous offerings we give are as much a benefit to ourselves, the giver, as they can be to those who receive them. Only those who give this way can know for themselves just how much more blessed it is to give than to receive.
Read 2 Corinthians 9:6, 7. How does this text so encapsulate what giving should be about?
Giving a generous offering can and should be a very personal, spiritual act. It is a work of faith, an expression of gratitude for what we have been given in Christ.
And, as with any act of faith, giving only increases faith, for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). And there is no better way to increase faith than to live out our faith, which means doing things that grow out of our faith, that spring from it. As we give, freely and generously, we are in our own way reflecting the character of Christ. We are learning more about what God is like by experiencing Him in our own acts. Thus, giving like this only builds trust in God and the opportunity to “taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8, NKJV).
“It will be seen that the glory shining in the face of Jesus is the glory of self-sacrificing love. In the light from Calvary it will be seen that the law of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven; that the love which ‘seeketh not her own’ has its source in the heart of God; and that in the meek and lowly One is manifested the character of Him who dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto.” - Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 20.
In what ways have you experienced the reality of how faith grows through giving freely and generously out of what you have been given?
