Today in my preaching lab, one of my classmates was giving a sermon on Philippians 2:1-4 and in it he told us about a wall hanging he has in his house which reads, "Give without remembering, Take without forgetting." Those words have been clanging around in my head much like a pinball ever since I heard them.I see these words as representing a coin. On one side of the coin is giving and on the other is thanksgiving. Now if my life were a series of flips of that coin I would have to say that the overwhelming majority of the time it would land on thanksgiving. It appears that my coin is heavily weighted towards one side
Obviously there is nothing wrong with being thankful but there sure is something wrong with always being a taker and hardly ever being a giver. I have received much: from the graciousness of other people to even the very life and salvation I have from God. I'm really good at taking, but I stink at giving. And I truly believe that this robs me of experiencing deeper joy.
Maybe Reba got it right in her song, "The Secret of Giving":
'The one secret to living, whoever you are
It's finding that true joy in giving, with an open heart.'
All I know to do is pray: "Lord, make me a better giver so that I can honor you and experience the joy I am missing."
Posts
1 comment:
I am willing to do whatever I can to jumpstart your giving...just let me know how you can give to me and I will do all in my power to recieve
Post a Comment