Advent Adventure- 4 Days to Christmas: Multiplying Joy
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7 (NLT)
This is the final day of week 3 of our Advent Adventure. Joy is rooted in the Christmas story and needs to find a firm foundation within our own souls. One of the easiest ways to reinforce joy in our hearts is to consistently find ways to give. How and what we give is critical to creating lasting joy within us. Giving away all your hand-me-downs or after-thoughts won’t help create lasting change in your spirit. Christ is looking to radically change every part of you, and that is especially true with the nature of our giving.
There are all types and all ways to give. Focusing on who to give can be just as important as what to gift. The scriptures place an emphasis on the poor, the immigrants, the widows, and the orphans. In essence, the one thing these groups have is the inability to give back anything other than a ‘thanks.’ Jesus own words in Luke 12:13-14 say, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Our reward is in a job well done. Our gift will be joy within us.
Focusing on what we give is important as well. Giving our time and our treasures can be the hardest thing to give away. The reason why it’s so difficult to give away is because of how much we value time and money. We care deeply about how we spend our time and what our money goes towards, and rightly so. Being good stewards of the resources God has entrusted us with is wise and commanded in the Bible. However, part of that stewardship is remembering that what we have in our possession is only there because it is a gift from God. What better way to honor God with the money that He has generously blessed us with than to go and make sure someone else is taken care of financially?
The most important principle in giving may be the why and how we give. 2 Corinthians 9:12 says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Our hearts should receive just as much joy from giving as it does from getting. This area may take the most focus and hardest work. There is a desire in all of us to take more than we need and begin to hoard all good things for ourselves and not to share. But just as God freely gave His son so that we might be saved, we, too, need to begin letting go of the things closest to our hearts so others might be helped.
Giving can be a hard thing for even the stoutest Christian. It requires a strong understanding of detachment, stewardship, wisdom, and simplicity that takes years to cultivate. This week, I want you to practice giving. Begin to pray about who you are going to give to and what it will be. Find a way for it to be impactful and meaningful. And if you don’t feel cheerful about it, which is difficult to do if you have been out of the spiritual discipline of giving, then pretend you are. The more you pretend to be happy about giving things away, the more you will find yourself becoming a cheerful giver.
Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.
Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.