Let Blessings Flow


 

A generous man will himself be blessed, because he shares his food with the poor. Proverbs 22:9

“Where there is forgiveness of sin, there is life and all blessedness. We do not obtain forgiveness by good works, but through the forgiveness of sin come good works.” Martin Luther

I don’t know if it’s because Thanksgiving is around the corner or because Christmas comes right behind it, in any case I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about giving and forgiving lately.

For awhile our enemy really tried to convince me that I didn’t give out of the overflow of what God has given and continues to give to me, but as a means to an end.  Just as I began to question my motives and look for guilt, (yes, look for guilt!) I read this quote from Martin Luther. Oh! That’s right.

I love how perfectly and succinctly he puts it. We can give and serve ourselves to exhaustion but that isn’t going to earn us any forgiveness. Hello, the word is forgiveness! But once we receive forgiveness a natural chain of events is to want to take that grace and spread it around.

There is much debate, even among Christians about faith and good works. There is an attitude in some circles that if you aren’t serving you shouldn’t expect anything from God. For me that begs the question, have you met God? Because He surely doesn’t operate that way, thankfully!

Doing something, anything, that we can call a “good work” can serve a couple of purposes. It can lend one the decidedly erroneous impression that one is earning salvation. It can also give one something to hold over the head of others. “Well, I put in four days at that church! What did he do?”  Yuck! If that makes us cringe….well, I can’t believe it pleases God’s heart.

We are called the children of God, family. We are supposed to love one another. That love shouldn’t be based on what someone is or is not doing. It’s just supposed to be love, based on the example of our Father, a free gift.

If hurting people hurt people, then shouldn’t it follow that blessed people bless people?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not Really god, where are you?

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning to noon.”Baal answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said, “Surely he is a god! Perhaps his is deep in thought, or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18:26b-27 Those who know me would be quick to tell you that I am a bit sarcastic. It’s a quality that I have passed on to my children and even some of my grandchildren. Some days I feel a little guilty. Is that really a quality that God wants to see in me? Certainly that cannot be my go to attitude but there are times that it comes in quite nicely. This morning, reading a totally unrelated verse, I was reminded of this account in the first book of Kings. (It begins at verse 16 and continues to the end of the chapter. I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t and it if you have reread it. It’s great!) In this p
Read more

My Offering

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also love you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2 Standing in my kitchen, I was praying that what I was putting together for a friend would convey what I want her to know, that I so deeply appreciate her. As my mind spun around what can I add? What would she really like? Is this enough? I had to laugh. That is so often my prayer, “Lord, I don’t have anything to give. I don’t give enough. What can I possibly do?” and on, and on and…. Well, you get it, I’m sure. May I just say, GOD IS GOOD! (Yes, I know the caps mean I’m shouting. Yes, I am shouting!) While I was preparing my “gift” I was thinking about how often I feel that I don’t do enough, for friends, for family, for my hubby and certainly for God. I had music playing, another pretty typical occurrence. The Third Day song, “Offering” started to play and I started singing along.
Read more

Selective Sight

You shall not bow down to them; for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing love to the a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:5-6 A precious little one that I know has a glass eye. We’ll call him Jack. Beyond the lack of his eye, Jack has a lot of other challenges. His brain hasn’t caught up with his chronology and it most likely never will. My expectation is that Jack will always need someone close by to help him through life. He’s a needy kid who is also a little bit on the naughty side. It was his uniquely naughty nature that taught me a spiritual lesson. You see, little Jack can pop out that glass eye and he does. The other day while I was with him another child in the room was yelling, “Eye, eye, eye.” Not having experienced Jack’s particular talent I heard it is “I, I, I”. Just as I was about to ask her to please b
Read more