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?

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