Day 40 - Be a GIVER!

For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

Sacrificial Giving???  Most people struggle with "out of my excess" giving...but God has called us to sacrificial giving.

I remember hearing a woman speak who had the opportunity to go to Calcutta, India.  She was working in the same orphanages that Mother Theresa was working in.  She spent the week touching and loving the unlovables.  She hugged leppers.  She loved the orphans.  She gave until she had nothing left to give.  At the end of the week, she had the opportunity to meet Mother Theresa.  M.T. asked her, "Did you give until you had nothing left to give?".  The woman said, "yes."  M.T. replied, "Now give some more."  That's sacrificial giving - when you give until you have nothing left to give, then you give some more.

It's easy to throw a $20 bill in the basket for a missionary or whatever on a Sunday morning, when that $20 is out of the excess of our budget.  But how many of us would reach into our wallet and give the $5 bill if it were the last $5 for the week and we needed gas for our car or a snack on the way home?  We give out of our excess, but we don't often give sacrificially.

Jesus gave everything He had for the advancement of the Kingdom and out of obedience to His Father.  He gave up his rightful place at the right-hand of the Father.  He stopped at nothing, eventually giving His very life!

I want to be a sacrificial giver, giving everything I have out of obedience to God.  I want to be the hands and feet of Jesus (or as I've heard, Jesus with skin on).

Father - Help me to see ways to be a sacrificial giver in my family, my community, my church so that others would see Jesus in me.

God dares me to give sacrificially - to give until it hurts, then share Christ.

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