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When You Do Not Feel Like Giving

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You can be sad and you can give.  You do not have to give what furthers your sadness, you do not have to give out of a reserve that you do not have.  You can still give something. If you have a smile, give it. If you do not have a smile give something else. Hold a door for someone  Do not give because you feel pressured to give, it will only make you feel worse. Jesus knew the cross was the only way for us to find salvation, but the bible does not say He went to the cross because He felt obligated.  He went because he loved us. Love is a choice. He loved us enough to give His life away. To follow Him is not to give because you feel that in order to follow Him you have to give, to follow Him is to receive His love and let it spill over  When it spills over, someone receives. It is easier to give when you understand what you give is not really yours. It is easier to believe your needs are being met when you understand faith as the evidence of things unseen.  

 

Giving cost Jesus everything.  We do we read that He liked what it cost Him.  In fact, we read that he despised the shame. There is a difference between liking what you know will result from your giving, and liking the actual process of giving.  Sometimes I am afraid of the process, but doing nothing is doing something. When we cannot find it in ourselves to give in a situation, we can keep our eyes open to another situation in which the eternal benefits of giving outweigh the inconvenience of what it will cost us.     

 

I am not nearly the giver I could be.  Partly because of my unwillingness to receive.  To receive what is, rather than what I would like to be.  Partly because I forget that all I have comes from God, including every breath I take.  The parking space is not mine. The account is not mine. My children are not mine. It is easier to give up the parking space than to dip into the bank account.  It is easier to dip into the bank account than to watch my children experience hardship that God will ultimately use for His glory. In the end, the parking space won’t matter and neither will the bank account.  The end that matters for my children is their eternal end, not how smooth I can make the road in between. When you let go of the desires and expectations you have for this life, it is easier to receive. When you let go of the things you hold most tightly, it is easier to give.  May this be a year of giving and receiving.

 

“give, and it will be given to you.  Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.  For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38 (ESV)

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Indeed, we can trust the Giver.

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“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”  Romans 8:32

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