SHARING OUR ABUNDANCE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

2 Corinthians 9:11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

God is the great Provider of all things. He creates all people who populate the earth He made and He makes sure that those people have what they need to live and carry out the purposes He has set aside for them.

One of those purposes God has called every single person to is to care for the needs of others who may be less fortunate and throughout every generation since the very first one, there have been people who found themselves in difficult social circumstances which led to difficulty, difficulty that made them reliant on the charity and generosity of others.

You see, there is really fiscal balance in the world. While some people find themselves in economic hardship, there are others who have an abundance, far more than they really need. The Lord fully expects those who have to help those who have not. Unfortunately, we don’t see this happening in our world.

What we do see are people with riches hoarding what they have and focused on amassing even more riches. A person’s net worth becomes a badge of honor they wear in society, striving ever more to reach the upper echelons of financial wealth where they can look down on those who don’t come close to rivaling their fame and fortune. They love attention, for people to write about them, for television shows to talk about them, and for people in general to covet their lifestyle. All this while millions of people are homeless or dying from hunger or lack of health care, in their own country and in countries abroad.

Friends, this is not what God intends to happen when He blesses His people richly. He enriches in every way, not so people can be self consumed with their affluence and status but so they can be “generous on every occasion” and there are more places where generosity is needed than people who can give to those needful causes. If a person isn’t finding opportunities to be charitable, they aren’t looking hard enough.

So what happens when people give generously as God calls them to do?

In our scripture verse for today from 2 Corinthians, Chapter 9, we learn that charitable giving results in “thanksgiving to God”. This goes for the giver and the receiver, or at least this is my experience as I am led to give to others, I find such joy in doing so, in knowing God is using me to make a difference in someone else’s life. It makes me so grateful for my Lord and what He does for me so I can do for others. Maybe you can relate.

But I really feel that thanksgiving goes the other way as well. For I feel God is thankful when we obediently answer His call and use His gifts for His purposes and to His glory.

God loves a cheerful giver. God provides us with everything we need to carry out every good work He calls us to do. And God delights when we do just that, when we use His generosity to extend generosity to others.

God’s word is sending a message that it surely is better to give than receive. It’s up to us to receive that message and honor God through the way we use the gifts He has provided by sharing our abundance.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com