After a week of Christmas shopping {online only!}, hosting giveaways, and creating holiday shopping guides, I had a quiet moment this morning to sit down and reflect on the idea of having, owning, giving, gifting… all those verbs that seem so pressing as we plan our Christmas lists and stress over our December budgets.
I was reading the last chapter in I Chronicles where the aging King David passes his throne down to his son, Solomon. Along with the crown, he also gives Solomon an outrageous amount of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and jewels, with which Solomon has been commanded to build a permanent temple for God in Jerusalem.
After presenting this offering to Solomon, David asks his people to also willingly give of their own possessions to help add to the temple building supplies. After the citizens add to to the heaps of precious metals, David laughs.
He prays to God and he laughs during this prayer. Or at least I imagine him chuckling a bit as he prays:
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly?
For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.”
-I Chronicles 29:14-
And isn’t that the truth? We give and receive. We save and we splurge. But it all comes from the hand of God. It’s so easy to forget that everything we have belongs to Him as we shop for sales and try to manage our budgets, especially around Christmas time.
So, sister, when you give, give cheerfully and, above all, praise Christ for HIS generosity toward you. If you cut back on your gift giving this year, save your money for the glory of God and thank him for the gift of self-control.
Because in the end, it all belongs to HIM anyway.
|Linking up with Casey|
I love this post! It's like you're reading my mind/heart. Thoughts on generosity- the real thing- genuine generosity have been following me everywhere lately. I am reading a book- 7 by Jen Hatmaker- have you heard of it? It is wrecking me.
This was a topic of conversation between me and Jon last night….he finished up leading a small group of men last night (one is a non believer who just can't grasp the idea of Christianity but is still coming to group) and they discussed everything belonging to God last night…how it should be easy for us to give, tithe, etc. It came up that some people feel Christians tithe to get a financial reward from God but that is not the case at ALL. To be honest, that is what I needed to secure our decision to tithe at first…we started tithing and boom Jon got a bonus. It has been a year and no we aren't getting huge bonus checks every month but we are learning that every dollar, every possession in our hands belongs to God…and we should be willing to give as much as He asks at any moment. I wish more people could realize this in the insanity of the holidays. Thanks for this post!
AMAZING post. It's so easy to forget about HIM during this time of year. It's ironic that this happens since this time of year is all about HIM!
I am Google+ this one!
XO Lourdes
Amen.
I love this post. We have been talking about this frequently and how He has given us literally everything-our health, our abilities, the air we breathe, our families, etc. I love how you put it–God has been generous toward us! We are beyond blessed.