If you’ve ever babysat or spent time with one of your own children, you may have had a situation where you confronted the child on something they did wrong and while you were talking to them, they quickly said, “Sorry!” Something about the way they said it made you think, “They don’t get it.” I mean, they said the words, but their heart wasn’t resonating with what they did.
This doesn’t happen with just kids. It happens with all of us, right? A diaper needs changing, and we’re not thinking, “Oh goodie!” Or, someone from your past who hurt you comes into your life and your immediate response isn’t happiness, but on the outside you muster up a smile. Now, hear me as a human being, it’s good that we fight to do the right things even when we don’t feel like it. That’s part of God’s process of changing us and growing us. But at the same time, I think it ought to be our prayer that our heart would unite with God’s truth, too. That our mind, will, emotions, actions, and desires would all align. Think about the Fighter Verses from this past week. Paul is talking to the Corinthians about financial giving. He encourages sacrificial giving. He says
“. . . Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Paul encourages generous giving, but he makes sure the people understand that God doesn’t want a “I-gave-but-I-don’t-want-to” kind of giving. Now if you have that attitude, Paul’s answer isn’t, “So, never give!” Instead, he wants all people to give because he actually wants all people to reap bountifully! He says that there are rich treasures that God gives for those who give.
Now, Paul is not promoting what some people in our day call prosperity gospel: where you plant seed money and God will give you a hundredfold in return. No! The greatest blessing is greater growth in holiness and growing in your relationship with the Lord. And then, who knows what’s to come and what God will do through that giving. Paul even talks about eternal blessings that resulted from the Corinthians giving. But this giving principle is something I think all of us should keep in mind in all we do.
God is worthy of us giving our whole selves to him in worship this week. He loves the cheerful giver. And the giver is cheerful because God loves them.
Timothy Durey