We're heading towards week 3 of our Generosity series.
There is one thing I'm increasingly sure of. Our first (and probably hardest) task is to invite God to change our hearts.
Real generosity will only happen when our hearts are transformed and freed by God. That's the job of the Holy Spirit. But its our job to open our hands and let God have access to our hearts.
So...that's where it starts. I'm praying that you'll open your hearts and that God will respond by transforming your hearts.
THAT SAID
I've really been having a tough time this week with a couple of very tough and very straight forward verses.
1 John 3:17,18 - If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.
Malachi 3:8-10 - "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.
Amos 5 (the whole chapter) - God basically says "I hate your worship because it isn't matched by real (maybe generous) compassion and active care for the poor and oppressed. I hate your assemblies. I hate your songs."
What do we do with those kinds of verses? There's quite a bunch of them.
It seems that there is a fine line somewhere between guilt and honest conviction about the ways we fall short. And maybe for fear of getting too close to guilt, we just use avoidance instead.
Maybe its enough to just read the WORD and let the Holy Spirit work.
thoughts?
OK, check this out. As I was driving to a track meet for Brandon in the middle of nowhere (actual, it was in Catlin, IL, which is just past the middle of nowhere), I spotted a sign in front of a church with a scripture. For some reason, it stuck in my head. It was "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth." One day later, your blog appears, with a reference to the same scripture (1 John 3:18). Coincidence? Maybe. Worthy of prayerful response? Definitely!
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