Live a generous life....

'If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs'
In Deut 15:7-8, I believe God instructs the entire nation of Israel to imitate His generosity and grace. Especially to the poor and needy. This is the challenge that lies before all of us who call ourselves his disciples. The Christian life is not a life of talk but of obedience and action.

At the end of seven years, every Israelite was to cancel all debts owed by fellow citizens. By doing this they would model graciousness, forgiveness and care for the poor to all the people and other nations around. God would favour their land with abundant crops and protect their harvest. This is amazing to me. They had to learn to trust that God was in control of it all, the rain, the sun and the fruitful harvest times. If you like, their income and livelihood. WOW! Would you have been enthusiastic to obey God? hmmmm really? This is a lesson to learn in the school of faith! God wants to know whether we will obey him (whatever he asks us to do) and trust him to meet all our needs even if it doesn't always make sense. As we live we need to learn and I for one believe that Life is God's Bible School and we are all in it. Our goal is to become more like Jesus and to fulfil his mission. Learning to give and to be generous is high on God's agenda because it was on his.

Every believer is called to live a generous life. True Christ-followers are givers, not takers.

How are you doing? I challenge you today to intentionally look to be generous today, look for an opportunity to serve, help someone solve a problem, give to a noble cause, make a commitment to tithe and give offerings, bless a neighbour, help a stranger or give food to the Foodbank! A lack of creativity will keep make us dull when we are supposed to be Light in the community.

Come on let's get creative and make a difference.