God and you

Day 102

'Then he turned to his host. "When you put on a luncheon or a dinner," he said, "don't invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbours. For they will repay you by inviting you back. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the godly, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you."'

Luke 14:12-14

Who here thinks of themselves as a generous person? Who knows that they are not generous? I can sort of remember doing a devotional about generosity before, so I'm not going to go into all that about how to be generous and why we should be generous and so on. Today I am gonna look at what we, as Christians, should be like when we are being generous.

Lots of people give stuff because they know they will be rewarded after giving. For example, if you give someone a Christmas present, you usually expect them to give you one back, right? But this verse tells us we shouldn't give just because we know we will get something back. It kinda defeats the point of giving, after all. This verse explains that we should give to those who can't repay us, so that we are giving for their good, and not for your own.

This passage also tells us that God will reward us when we go to Heaven if we give when we know we will not be repaid. But, just to clear, that should not be the reason that we give. Giving is about others, not about yourself. It's like how love is meant for others, not for yourself, because if everyone married themselves... yeah, that would be really weird. So the point of this is that when you give, God tells us not to give so that you gain, but to give so that others will be blessed with kindness. You wouldn't give to a charity and expect to get something back, right? So give in a selfless manner that is not jealous or hungry. Give because God has given you the world.

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Please help me not to be self-seeking when I give. Help me to give knowing that it is not because I want something, but because the other person needs something. Help me to be generous and full of love. Give me the strength to not be jealous of what others have, but to give happily and without hatred.

Amen