Giving part 2
It is the season of giving. Which, when you think about it, should probably be all day every day anyway. Because our heavenly Father has already given us the greatest gift there is. Look at Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." That's it, man. The gift of God. Eternal life. And not just any life, but Jesus's own eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life of love! See, on the cross Jesus didn't just give His life FOR us. He did that, but it was more than that. He also gave His life TO us. Because He wanted us to have it. So that we could experience it as He lives His own life--because nobody can live Jesus's life except Jesus--in us, and through us, and as us. And in the exact same way that we are blessed... to be a blessing... Jesus gave... so that we could give. So that we might have something to give. Something worth giving. Because you can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. That's why it's so vitally important to know what you do have. To know it and believe it. To receive it and release it. To let what's already inside you come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. What you believe is inside you WILL come out. It has to. It's too big and too powerful not to. So the key, again, is knowing. Receiving. Look at 1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." And I think the key to the whole thing is right there in the end of the verse. How do we fight the good fight? How do we lay hold of the gift we've been given? By professing it! By filling ourselves to overflowing with what we have been filled with! By letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. Receiving and releasing the love of God. And look at this--you can't give what you don't have. So if you love someone, if you give what you have and who you are, that means that, on some level, you believe you have it. You believe you ARE it. Because if you didn't, you couldn't. If you didn't believe you were loved, you couldn't love. You wouldn't be able to give it if you didn't have it. Faith works by love. Love is what we put our faith in. Jesus said, "Have faith in God." That's our foundation. Our Rock. That's what we stand on in order to keep from being shaken. It's all about God, which means it's all about love. And love is giving. Love is never about getting, because love IS giving. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. So the key is knowing what you've got, in order to give what you've got. The key is being careless--in a very real sense--with your love. Not sitting on a high horse judging people in order to decide whether or not they "deserve" your love, but lavishing it on everybody you come into contact with. Love is not like anything else in the world. You don't diminish it by giving it away. You increase it by giving it away. You magnify it by giving it away. You multiply it by giving it away. And you are connected to the unlimited source and supply of it in any event. You couldn't run out of love if you tried! So don't overthink it. Don't worry about it. There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear. Just give what you've got. See a need and meet it. It's pretty simply. If someone's hungry... feed them. If someone's cold, and you have two coats... live out of your abundance and give them one of your coats! Do what you can do, for whoever you can do it for, wherever you're at. Everybody needs love. Everybody. So there are plenty of opportunities to give it. 'Tis the season!