What Are You NOT Giving?

The Bible says that it’s better to give than to receive, but I believe that WHAT we give is just as important as the fact we are giving. And what we are NOT giving may be a good indication of where we need to make changes in our hearts and lives.

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The greatest two gifts ever given in the universe are when God sacrificed His only begotten Son Jesus to become Savior of the world, and when Jesus sacrificed His life by dying an indescribably gruesome death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. There have never been, nor will ever be, greater sacrifices than these. Those who repent of their sins and believe this amazing Gospel of Jesus Christ are forgiven and promised eternal life in heaven with God rather than forever in hell. Being reborn and saved by receiving Christ as Lord is just the beginning. We are called to follow Christ by sacrificing our own selfish worldly sinful ways and learning to live our lives according to the ways of the Lord as we learn when we study the Bible. We are called to offer our lives to God as a “living” sacrifice. The common denominator in all of this is sacrifice.

How, then, does God want us to give to others? He wants us to lay down our lives. What does this involve? Sacrifice. If your giving to God is merely about going to church and tossing some money into the basket and remembering to say your prayers before you go to bed at night, I encourage you to consider what giving God truly wants you to do. And if your giving to others merely involves buying flowers and mailing birthday presents on time, or volunteering once in a while to do stuff you love, you may want to consider if this is the giving God truly desires you to do. God has modeled to us through His own self, and through His only begotten Son, that the greatest giving of all involves sacrifice. Sacrifice means something is given up.

Your sacrifice in giving to God and to others may involve giving up comfort, giving of your time you would rather spend doing something else, giving of the money you have that you would rather spend on yourself, giving of your heart to people who need love and comfort, giving of your skills without expecting anything in return, giving of your knowledge about the Gospel and the Bible to those in need of Christ, giving up where you want to live to go to where God is sending you to serve, etc. 

Is there something you are not giving that God is calling you to give?

Please give. For His sake. For the glory of the Lord! 

 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

Act 20:35  I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. 

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

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