(2/25) For all of the blessings the Thanksgiving holiday brings, there are also some drawbacks, Black Friday being the most famous. Now lets reflect on this for a second. The day after a holiday of thanksgiving, millions of Americans rush out the door and seemingly forget all of those good sentiments... we flock to stores and fight through crowds of people all to get a good deal. In past years, people have DIED from injuries sustained on Black Friday. Seriously. People have died. Why? Materialism, which is greed. Do you see how horribly ironic that is, that we spend a day in thanksgiving with family and then run out the door and forget it all (doing the exact opposite) the next day? What kind of message does it send to children when were thankful one day and then I NEED MORE the next? Heres my point. As Christians, we arent called to be greedy, were called to live and love like Jesus did, which means being selfLESS, not selfish. In fact, were told to be the MOST giving people there are! In this Christmas season, let us reflect on some verses. We are called to be RADICAL givers! Give often, give a lot, give to people around you that need it. Were called to live this life out together, helping each other, encouraging each other. Read these verses and see what Im saying. Every one of us is able to give something: our time volunteering, our money in donations, anything! Lets help make someone elses Christmas special, and tell them that Jesus Christ loves them! Deuteronomy 15:10 Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. Deuteronomy 16:17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you. Proverbs 3:27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Proverbs 11:24-25 There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 21:26 …the righteous gives and does not hold back. Proverbs 22:9 He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor. Proverbs 28:27 He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses. Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Matthew 6:3-4 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Mark 12:41-44 And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.” Luke 3:11 And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” Luke 6:30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him wouldn’t perish, but would have eternal life. Acts 20:35 In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive. Romans 12:8 …Or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. 2 Corinthians 9:10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; Philippians 4:15-17 And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you send a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 17:51:17 +0000
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