Giving As God Gives

This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. I John 3:16-18 (MSG).

“You can always give without loving, but you can never love without giving.”
Amy Carmichael

What, when, how, or to whom we give is not really what matters. God looks at our hearts, our motives for giving. If we give to get, to impress, or to please others our motives are wrong. The world gives for all those reasons and many more. However, as God’s people we are to give as He gives. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

If we have Christ in us, we will love. And if we love as He loves, we will give. Not just of our finances or possessions. We will give of our time, our words of encouragement, and most of all, we will give the good news of salvation. We do not have to be wealthy or blessed with unlimited time. We just need to tune our hearts to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to reveal opportunities to give. We need to view interruptions as open doors for giving. We need to smile at people with whom we come into contact during our daily routine. We need to yield the right of way in rush hour traffic. When we see a need, we need to use whatever resources God has given us to help. And we will do it with love.

How about you? Have you checked your motives lately? Allow God’s Spirit to search your heart and convict you of any wrong motives you may have. Ask Him to fill your heart with His love so that it can spill out onto a world that so desperately needs it. He is faithful. He will hear an answer.

Father, forgive me for the times I have given out of my own needs. Forgive me for the times I have neglected to give. Open my eyes and heart and pour into me Your love so that it will overflow and touch the lives of those around me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen

© 2008 by Ginny Holcombe. All rights reserved.