Give Generously

The act of giving is a blessing in itself. Whether it's giving financial support, encouragement, a helping hand, a listening ear, advice, or even just the time of day, giving is a blessing not only to others but to yourself. It's hard to see giving as a blessing, but this shows up multiple times in Scripture—“it is more blessed to give than receive" (Acts 20:35); "the righteous gives and spares not" (Proverbs 21:26); "give generously" (Deuteronomy 15:10).

 It isn't secret knowledge that God asks us to give.

Today we remember the brave men and women who gave their lives as a sacrifice for our freedom. They literally gave up their lives so we could live free, and often we take that for granted.

Oftentimes when it comes to our own lives we find it difficult to give.

I know I do. I love my free time, so when somebody needs my help with something, I definitely don't want to give them my time. I'm a broke college student so when it comes to financially giving to others in desperate need, I find it very difficult to give, even what I can. Giving typically doesn't come naturally.

Men and women have given their lives to protect our freedom. Jesus Christ gave the ultimate sacrifice to save our souls and give us life. God gave his own son as a sacrifice to bring us eternal life through Him. And I can't even find it in me to give a little time or money or whatever it is to someone who needs it?

I can guarantee there is someone in your life that is in need of something, and it is quite possible that you have exactly what they need. Are you going to be willing to give it to them?

This weekend I attended a memorial service for a man that lived his life this way...Constantly giving time, support, and whatever it was that people needed. He deeply impacted our community, because he lived a life focused on giving what he could to others, and not focused on what he could get.

This is the way God calls us to live. Give. Give. Give.

Give without thinking what benefits you're going to get out of it.

Give without holding a grudge.

Give without expecting something back.

 Give without question.

Because God gave His son so you would have the opportunity to live, and now you have the opportunity to give.

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."

 -Winston Churchill

"I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare."
-C.S. Lewis

Keep on Swinging

            If you don’t know this about me already, I love to play tennis. I’ve never played it competitively, but I’ve taken it up as a hobby and something to do just for fun. Needless to say, I am no professional. I really don’t even have much knowledge of the fundamentals or the correct form. But I do know this: when the ball comes at you, you have to swing. Complicated right?

            As a beginner tennis player and someone with awful depth perception, there are many times when the ball comes flying at me, I swing, and the only contact the racket makes is with the wind…A complete miss. But the next time the ball comes at me, even if I missed the last one, I keep on swinging.

            If you’re going to play a tennis game, you can’t avoid the ball. In the same way, you can’t avoid challenges in life. When a challenge is thrown your way, you have to swing. Because even if you miss completely, you’ve learned better for the next ball that comes your way. There is absolutely no harm in swinging. What good are you going to get out of not swinging?  Taking a ball to the face is not a better option…Letting the obstacles interfere with where you want to go is not a better option. The best option is giving it a shot.

“I have fought the good fight. I have completed the race. I have kept the faith.” -2 Timothy 4:7

At the end of the day, I’d rather say I swung and I missed then that I didn’t swing it all. At the end of my life, I’d rather be able to say that I fought, that I faced my challenges and that even if I had to keep on swinging over and over again, I still kept the faith. Although in tennis it’s pretty important that you actually make contact with the ball, maybe in life it isn’t all about where the ball goes, but it’s about the swing.  

It's Time To Go Home

It is so, so good to be home. No matter how far or how long I'm away, I can always come back and know I have a home here. 

Although I didn't just get up and run away from home, I have tried to run from God. But no matter how far I run, his arms are always open, waiting for me to come back home. 

Even if I'm not intentionally running away from God, if I'm not running towards him, I'm still slipping away. I do that a lot. I decide to follow God's ways, but I follow them on my own terms instead of his. 

But whenever I get off track, I always have God to come back home to. 

There's a parable in Scripture of the prodigal son. The son takes his inheritance from his father, and decides to leave home and spend it however he wants. But when it was all said and done and he had nothing left, the only thing he could do was return home and hope his father would at least hire him as a servant. But the father did more than that. The father threw a huge celebration feast to welcome home his lost son. 

When we stray from God's way, He's waiting and ready to throw a celebration for when we return. Without any exceptions, God always welcomes the lost back into his home. 

I find that a lot of people know in their hearts that God always has a place for them. However, they decide not to return to God because of the guilt and shame holding them back. They stay away, fearing that maybe God doesn't want them to come back. 

That is so far from wrong. 

You and I are the lost son. 

No matter how far away we get, there will be open arms and a celebration when God sees us in the distance deciding to come back to Him.

We can't get away from God. We could run and try to hide, but He's always going to be around and show up somewhere. So save yourself the trouble, and stop hiding because of guilt and shame. Don't keep running away. God wants you to come back home. If you're lost, God has a welcome home feast waiting for you. It's time to go home. When you finally get home, the fear, guilt, and shame will all slip away when God picks you back up in His arms. 

"God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home." -Henri Nouwen

Dirty Shoes

I’m sitting here writing this as I’m staring at my dirty shoes. I actually had some spare time even though it’s finals week, and I thought maybe I would try and write my blog early. I began to type, but the words felt meaningless and uninspired…So I erased it all, sat back from my laptop, and then noticed that my Converse sitting in the corner of the room were looking pretty dirty. The shiny white new look is gone and instead they look like they’ve been pretty worn down. I actually like them better now then when they looked brand new. Those Converse tell a story, they’ve done their job, and now they have something to show for it.

Okay, so maybe those Converse don’t really tell much of a story. But you and I do.

You’ve got to get some dirt on your shoes.

Because when you do get dirt on your shoes, you can leave footprints as God works.

You and I are like those Converse. We serve a God-given purpose, but we can’t fulfill that purpose without the mud and mess that comes with it. If you want to leave a footprint, you have to step in the mud somewhere along the way. This could mean you have to get out of your comfort zone and go serve some place where you normally wouldn’t or don’t want to be. This could mean it’s going to rain down on you right where you are and the ground beneath you suddenly all becomes a mess. In that case, the only way to go is right through it. This could mean you have to go find someone else’s mess and jump right in. Whatever it is, someway somehow you will run into mud somewhere and you’re going to have to make the choice to either embrace the mess or escape the mess.

God calls us to embrace the mess.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10-

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

God’s power is made perfect in the mess…Last week I wrote about “Spiritual Battleship” and how I had been feeling like I was under attack. At the time, I really felt like I was losing that game and my ships were quickly sinking. Just one week later, and I’m feeling drastically different. Even though there are still a lot of unresolved situations, today I feel like I’m winning. I’m not winning because the situations are going away. I’m not winning because I’m ignoring those situations. I’m winning because God works in the mess and my dirty shoes still serve a purpose. Although I’ve been feeling like I’ve made a mess of my life while Satan has been firing against me, now I’ve got mud on my shoes. I’d like to think there is no better way to boast Satan’s defeat in his face then by walking past him standing tall, towards God’s open arms, with my dirty Converse on. Jokes on him, a little mess doesn’t scare God away, it invites Him in. Grace wouldn’t make sense if God didn’t work in messy places.

My life may be a mess. By God’s grace, it is a beautiful mess. My shoes are dirty, but by God’s grace they still serve a purpose. I’ve been walking through the storm and I’m looking pretty worn, but by God’s grace I still tell a story.

There is nothing wrong with dirty Converse. So walk through the mud and the mess towards God’s grace as you leave your muddy footprint behind to tell God’s story.