Tag: give

February 26 – Served Or Served

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:45 (NASB)

It has always been that some served, some were served, but the ones served never really served others. It was not that long ago a career in “service” might have been one’s only option. But it was not necessarily a career goal. Choosing one’s own way in life has not always been possible. The homes of the wealthy or at least those with the means had a servant or two. But Jesus Christ, the Son of Man who is our sovereign God did not come to earth as a man in order to be served by others. Even though it would be right, He came to do the serving. So throughout his 3 years of public ministry he taught his disciples and preached that service to others is our calling. As humans we find that very difficult and we might prefer our own personal servants. By example the ultimate service performed by Christ as to die and a cross carrying the sins of all in the world and pay the penalty that came with the sins. By service he made us free from being servants to sin and death and we were made servants to Christ to proclaim His name.

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 September 26 – Trading Weary for Rest

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28 (NASB) 

Weary. Heavy-laden. Do not we all feel this way from time to time? in this passage. This is an open invitation from Jesus to all who hear—but expressed in such a way that the ones who will respond to the invitation are those who are burdened by their own effort of trying to be good enough to please God and “qualify” for heaven. The ‘rest’ that Jesus promises is rest from just that self-effort to be righteous enough through one’s own good works. Many will think and say “I’ve lived a pretty good life and I’m going to heaven.” A pretty good life will never be good enough. There is only one way any of us will find ourselves to be that good and that is through Jesus Christ who gives to us His righteousness. It is impossible for us to be good enough even though we’ve been better than pretty good. Jesus says, “Come to Me because I can give you rest from your weariness. I can lift that heavy burden off of you. And it is free.” He bought that rest for us when he was crucified without sinning and died for sinners⸺that’s us. 

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January 28 – All Times All Times All


“Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 (NASB)

When we look at the first verse in our passage, Paul teaches that God is love and, He loves a cheerful giver. What an important bit to remember when planning gifts for Christian work. Then, the next verse Paul teaches that God is all-powerful. That is, God expresses his love to his people through his power. And why? In order to help us go even further in faith in giving. Let’s now, look at how Paul expresses this. The concept ‘all’ appears five times: all grace, all sufficiency, all things, all times, every good work. Paul describes the infinite goodness and greatness of God. God has power “to make all grace abound toward you.” He involves Himself in details of our lives, even in our decisions to give for a certain cause. In the service of the Lord grace brings more grace to the table. The believer’s grace in joyful giving can hardly be compared with God’s abounding grace to the believer for God showers his love on the joyful donor, who is unable to match God’s grace. He grants the gift of salvation, spiritual gifts, the fruit of the Spirit, and material needs as blessings.

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