2 Corinthians 9:7 (ESV)
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
After Mt. St. Helens blew up in 1980, one church needed a
great deal of cleaning up. Ash was in the parking lot and all over the inside
because of open windows. A woman met the pastor in the hallway on Friday and
asked "Why don't we get the High School and College kids to come in and
help poor Fred clean this place up? Let's get them involved." "Great
idea," he said, "Would you be willing to get some women together to
cook lunch for us?" "Well actually, we had plans tomorrow and I don't
know when we'll be back..."
We always want to volunteer someone else for a job
needing done, don't we? It's so easy to get into the mindset that serving God
is a chore, it's our job, our duty -- we give "valuable
consideration" to our giving, as Webster describes it. The fact of the
matter is that God loves a cheerful giver. He loves a volunteer. When I think
of that verse, the first thing that comes to my mind is monetary giving, but
God wants us to cheerfully volunteer every good thing He has so mercifully
allowed us to have -- things we often take for granted -- our time, our energy,
our abilities, our talents, our homes, our cars, our families -- all that we
have - all that He has cheerfully given to us!
Let's make a point to volunteer some of these things to
the Lord this week. Let's begin to bless the Lord and those around us!
Dear Lord, we pray that we would be willing to give of
our time to do Your work. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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