Our Heavenly Father has given us so, so much in so many aspects of our lives. It would take reams of paper to list everything we have been given by God. First, we have life! We are conscious living beings of body and soul. Along with this, if we so choose, we have eternal spirit life as a result of making Jesus Lord in our life and believing that God raised Him from the dead. Really, everything we have in our lives is a result of the Heavenly Father.
What is our response to this? We have a responsibility to steward what we have been given. I believe God expects us to use and take care of the resources He has given us. That includes our physical possessions, relationships, finances, health, etc.
Our natural inclination is to say, “It is mine. I earned it, so it belongs to me.” The truth of the matter is you are here and all that you have is a result of God’s love and grace. By the way we do not belong to ourselves anymore. God bought us with the price of His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 6:19 & 20).
How we take care of the resources from God is up to us. This is called stewardship. God has given us clear directions on how to steward all that we have. One method of stewardship is giving.
A Stewardship Principle - Giving
The law and principle of giving is perhaps the most misunderstood of God’s stewarding methods. A worldly person cannot imagine how you can give something and then be blessed back much more because of giving out of love.
God’s Word strongly encourages believers to be cheerful givers.
2Corinthians 9:6-8: But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
As we live our life for the Heavenly Farther may we take advantage of His guidance and do His Word so that we can be fully blessed and abound in the riches of His resources.
Agape,
Bob