As soon as my eyes landed on the opening words of this chapter (On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made (2)), God began to nudge me to consider my giving to kingdom work. Oh, I fulfill these words. I give a proportion (I tithe to my church and then give beyond that to other kingdom work) regularly but the Spirit’s Word to me was, have I become complacent with giving? Even smug that I give and others should, too. Ouch, I was kind of hoping for one of those ‘pick me up I love’ devotional mornings. Yet God is serving up a challenge!
I made no decisions to deepen my giving this morning but I am talking with God about it. After all, everything I have is from God. I am steward, He is Lord and maybe God wants me to rearrange my living so that I dedicate more of my resources directly to His work.
After this extended meditation on verse two, I continued reading… and stopped once again on verse 13: Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. The third challenge, in particular, hit me… be a man (woman) of courage… Courage to change how I am living (giving?), courage to be more intentional with my faith, courage to live more faithfully to Jesus and to risk being different for kingdom sake…
If one challenge wasn’t enough, God added more…
Lord, help me to believe that You have given me everything I need to live as You would have me live. I know I cannot do it on my own but You have already supplied me with Your Holy Spirit who supplies way more than I lack. Holy Spirit, lead me, guide me, embolden me for Your work today and all my todays. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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