Unconditional Giving
Theme of the week: Learning to Give Like God
Friday, November 30, 2012
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Key Bible Verses: Always be humble, gentle, and patient, accepting each other in love. You are joined together with peace through the Spirit, so make every effort to continue together in this way. (Ephesians 4:2-3, NCV) Dig Deeper: James 3:13-18
We know in our hearts that God does not want us to be selfish people. We know that we need to learn how to give. That means giving beyond what feels natural to us. It means learning to love unconditionally.
My son once said to me, "Dad, you love me because I love Christ, but you don't love me when I'm having a difficult time." Sadly, he was right. I had to learn to love my kids unconditionally. My conditional love was selfish, because I wanted them to do good so I wouldn't look bad.
If you are going to follow Christ, you have to give up living a selfish life. Your life absolutely must be about him first, and about others se-cond. You come in last.
The moment you start giving of yourself, God is going to do a wonderful work in your life.
Maybe today you need to extend a little bit of forgiveness to someone. Maybe today you need to show a little bit of grace to someone. Maybe today you need to give a little bit of space to someone.
As you learn to give, God will take your attempts to be a giving person and multiply them.
—Steve Mays in Overcoming
My Response: Is there anyone in particular I need to work on loving unconditionally?
Thought to Apply: Let this be thy whole endeavor, this thy prayer, this thy desire—that thou may be stripped of all selfishness, and with entire simplicity follow Jesus only.—Thomas À Kempis (German monk)
Adapted from Overcoming ((Regal, 2012) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.
Copyright © 2012 by Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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Father, give me the grace to put to death my selfish desires and habits so that I can generously give of myself to others.
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