Sunday 8 January 2023
If We Look to Give So That We Will Receive,
We Live Like Three Dead Sticks
Stuck in the Ice
in the Freezing Fog.
Deuteronomy 15:10
Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.
Luke 6:38
give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
Words of Grace For Today
The order of causation is messed up.
We do not give so that we will get what we give and more of it.
First God gives us everything, including breath, life, love, and hope.
Because God gives us so much, we can give liberally all God has given us so that others will enjoy the life God has given them.
And that is how it works.
Trying to encourage people to give to others in order that they will receive what they want or need is a futile project as countless ‘Stewardship Programs’ give great witness to.
If we remember how it is that we are free from sin and able to live graciously at all, then that is a good beginning to any day.
Let it be so, also today with us.