Deuteronomy 15:7-8
If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.
Dear Readers,
Obviously the focus of this post is giving. I'm sick of how selfish humans can be. Oftentimes the selfishness within my own self is more than I can bare. We all get so greedy because we want to live 'perfect' life's with all of the comforts we somehow 'deserve.' All that we truly end up with are selfish hearts. Sometimes we are not simply self centered, but self oriented.
In my mind being self oriented is somewhat different then being self centered. When we are self centered it is me, me, me, all the time. When we are self oriented, things 'should' revolve around us, but we often don't even realize we believe that. We expect the world to care about everything that happens in our life, and yet we live life believing that we are giving, caring people. The only way we can see this poison in ourselves is if we search it out. We must dig it up and ask God to reveal the self oriented thoughts to us.
In this post I want to share with you some idea's that have helped me change, and have helped me give of myself more freely. So below I have listed three of my own thoughts on becoming more giving. I still have many things left to dredge up, and I'm not saying that these will help you, but these are steps I have taken and I now have a foundation to build off of. I want you to know that as I am saying all of this I also believe that God created this world for us to enjoy. So (when the time is right), I believe that God finds it enjoyable when we get the chance to buy ourselves something special, or sit down and enjoy a mug of hot chocolate and read a good book. That is awesome! My point in, 'becoming a giver' is that we also have the chance to give of ourselves in awesome ways, and we too often pass it up, because, we are human beings, with a human nature, and that human nature...is selfish.
1-Search out Selfishness
Once you have decided to 'become a giver,' you must put God at the center of your heart. You cannot search out selfishness without God. God has given us so much, the only way for us to become givers is to give ourselves to Him. That is the whole first step, asking God to show you your selfishness. If you don't ask God to help you, you will not make it through.
2-At The Feet of Jesus
When you have found the specific areas you struggle in, then you must place them at the feet of Christ. All of the thoughts and decisions you've made that were somehow self oriented, now must be given to God or you will just suffocate in them. God loves you and wants to see you through this journey, but you have to ask Him to take them away.
This step is the hardest step, because it continues on for your whole life. Everyday you will have to ask God to take away your mistakes. Whenever God provides an opportunity to give and you find yourself holding back, you will have to go back to the cross. It is an all day, everyday task. I often find myself trying to get around giving money to a sponsor child or (this is crazy) even lending my friend a good book! I want to save it for myself! Well, what is the point in that! The worst thing that could happen is that my friend might hurt the book! Thats is it. The End (we humans are so weird sometimes). When I find myself in this position, that is when I cry out to God and ask for help.
3-Give, Give, Give!
I love the way The Message rephrases Deuteronomy 15:10. It says, "Give freely and spontaneously." Yeah! That is what I want to achieve! I want to give of myself freely and spontaneously! When I find someone having a bad day I want to feel free to give them a hug. When I'm shopping with a friend and she sees a book she wants, I want to buy it for her! I know that this won't always happen (I am a teenager...we don't have money), but I can always give love. This last step should be the easiest step, thought at times it will have its downs. Giving is one of the greatest joys and so in the end the joy of giving will far out weigh the sadness (like if my book just happened to get hurt).
So now that I have reached my conclusion, I want to give a part of me to you. I want to give you my blessing for you today, my prayers throughout tonight, and the ongoing joy of knowing someday we will all be together, giving, giving, giving, forevermore!
I love you all,
Megs
2 Corinthians 8:11
Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.
