Sunday Snippets: 5 Ways You Can be a Godly Giver

2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Sorry about the late post this week...the last few days have been a bit crazy with work, etc. :)

I can't believe that Christmas is less than a week away!! I'm always a bit sad when the Christmas season draws to a close; it's my favorite time of year. (As if I haven't already said that. ;)

In this season of giving, so many have a really wrong idea of what it truly means to give in a Godly way. We as Christians need to have our focus on the right things, at Christmas time just as any other time! So what does this mean in practice? Here are five characteristics of a Godly giver. (Note: this verse is usually applied to the aspect of giving to the church in tithes and offerings. However, today I'm going to broaden the application out to include giving in general. :)

• Godly givers purpose in their heart beforehand what they can give. They do not go into debt in order to give extravagant gifts that are beyond their current means. They also put thought into what they do get. Whether they make homemade gifts, or buy them, they consider what they are doing and think about what the recipient of the gift would like or need.

• Godly givers do not give grudgingly. Someone with a Christlike attitude is not going to be saying, "Ugh, I guess. Here. You owe me." They give without expectation or demands for a return gift.

• Going hand in hand with the last one, Godly givers do not give of necessity. They don't only give to someone when that person has done something nice for them, or to "pay off a debt". They give because they truly want to be a blessing to another person!

• Godly givers are cheerful in their sharing. They understand that there is a very specific blessing reserved for those who give in the right way. They give with a joyful heart, knowing that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

• Godly givers do not just give at Christmas or other holidays, nor do they give only to those who are nice to them. They give unselfishly, no matter the person or the circumstances.

Think for a moment about the greatest gift of all time, given by the Father to the world. God did not give His only Son with a sour attitude, but with a love that we can never fathom. Jesus did not give His life grudgingly or of necessity. He owed us nothing. Less than nothing. In fact, we all deserve to perish anyway. And yet He still gave His all in order to rescue us. With such an example before us, how can we not give in the same way? 

This Christmas, I want to challenge you to strive to be a Godly giver. The THINGS you are giving do not matter! If all you can give is a smile, or a hug, or a listening ear...do it with a cheerful heart. God loves and blesses those who give as He did.

I have a four day weekend for Christmas, so I am really excited about that! I look forward to spending time with my family. I hope all of you have a blessed week! What are some of your favorite things about Christmas? <3

Mykaela

Sunday Snippets: Feeling The Joys and Sorrows

Romans 12:15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Ok, so I have posted about this verse before, and with a very similar topic line. (You can read that post here.)  I just thought it was important enough to reiterate. :) 

Empathy. An often misunderstood and misused word. A lot of people think that empathy and sympathy are one and the same, but just because they sound similar does not mean they are the same thing! That's like thinking that bricks and sticks are the same because they have some of the same letters. ;) Here is a story to illustrate the difference between the two. 

Once upon a time, a hedgehog was walking through the woods, feeling very down in the dumps. She was crying as she walked along, so much so that she missed the hole in front of her in the path! She tumbled in and landed with a plop. This of course made her day a whole lot brighter. Not. Along came a squirrel, carrying a new rope ladder for his tree house, and seeing her crying in the hole, looked sadly down upon her. "Ooh, that looks really dark and scary down there!", the squirrel said. "You must be super sad to be crying like that...I feel so bad for you! Want a sandwich, or a lollipop maybe? No? K, well, I'll be seeing you...Hope things clear up soon!" Shaking his head, the squirrel continued down the path. Soon, a chipmunk arrived on the scene, also carrying a new rope ladder. Instead of gazing sorrowfully into the gap, he let down the ladder, and descended to the floor of the hole. He sat down next the hedgehog. "It's dark and scary down here.", he said, his eyes filling with tears at her distress. "I can see that it's been a very hard day for you. The ladder is over there when you need it, but I'm going to stay with you until you're ready."

This is just a silly story, and probably not the clearest illustration either, but do you see the difference? Sympathy looks at the suffering of others with sadness. Empathy is having the suffering of others in your own heart! Feeling their pain, so to speak. Not just giving condolences or a clap on the back and walking off. 

This verse about rejoicing with those who rejoice, and weeping with those who weep, is one that is short but packs a punch. Do we do this as much as we should? I think a lot of times we are afraid of showing a lot of emotion (whether joy or sorrow), for fear of being thought overly sensitive or babyish. And while we do need to be careful not to let emotions rule us, I think there are way too many people who are not willing to empathize with others like the Bible commands. 

Empathy is not just feeling others' suffering, though...it's feeling their joy, too! What is wrong with laughing and rejoicing with someone who just got good news or had something wonderful happen? For goodness' sake, if you can't do that, you need to loosen up a little! Or a lot, actually! ;) There have been times that I have been super excited about something, and couldn't wait to tell someone I loved. And then when I told them, it was kind of...meh. They were glad for me, but it didn't really mean anything to them. Okay, I get it if my passion is not your thing. That's fine! Everyone is different, which is wonderful. However, if I am passionate about something, you could try to have the slightest bit of joy with me about it! ;) Maybe I am just getting on a soapbox here, but my point is that we need to quit being such fuddy-duddy stick in the muds that we can't empathize with those around us. As an old pastor friend of ours used to say:

"Y'all look like you've done been baptized in pickle juice!!"

Let's get rid of the pickle juice, ok? :) The next time someone needs you, don't just offer them a sandwich and move on. Get down in that dark place with them. Cry with them. Laugh with them. Pray that God will give you the words and ability to be a Christlike friend to that person. God will bless you for it! 

I hope you all have a good week! Is it snowy where you live? We have about 6 inches here, and it is gorgeous!!! :) I'm dreaming of a white Christmas... ;)

Mykaela

Sunday Snippets: Do You Really See Them?

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Empathy. Compassion. Sincerity. These are all attributes that most people have to at least some degree, but many squelch these character traits as being uncool, un-manly, and just not something you should strive after. You should be tough and strong, and never show your true heart, never let anyone see you cry. You're bigger than that! 

Seriously?

I get so sick and tired of this mindset, honestly. It's ridiculous and foolish on so many levels...not to mention the fact that it is downright contrary to Scripture. Do you know what the opposite of empathy is? I had to look it up: it's apathy. Wow! Everyone knows what apathy is; an attitude of not caring at all, being coldly detached, and not having any interest in something. So tell me something...when in Scripture do you see our Saviour, Jesus Christ, with an attitude of apathy? Anyone? I can't think of one example. Not one!!

But compassion and empathy? Caring deeply about others and their pain? Wow, I could list dozens! The woman at the well, Jairus' daughter, the woman with the issue of blood, the many lepers and blind men He healed over the course of His ministry, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, the disciples...Jesus' life was a shining, living example of caring for others! 

What about us? When a friend comes to us with heartbreak over a trial or valley they are facing, do we simply listen blandly with a yawn, thinking about the game later on tonight? Or is our heart touched and grieved by their pain? When we hear a story on the news about a family that lost a small child in an accident, is it just another news story that we skim over and humph at? Heaven forbid we actually take 10 seconds to pray that the family of that child will be drawn to Christ through this tragedy. Um, no...that's way too weird. I mean, we don't need to go too far with this whole compassion thing. Well, what if that was your little sister that was there playing with dolls one day, and gone forever from your life on the next? We don't like to think about things like that, and yet it happens every day. Just because it's not you today, doesn't mean it couldn't be. 

I just finished a book about a girl, 17 years old, who was captured in 2014 by ISIS. She went through the most hellish experiences you could ever imagine...the fact that she is alive today is only by the hand of God. Last year, she escaped them, along with a handful of other girls who had been enslaved. She and what's left of her family were able to get to Germany and start a new life. Guess what, though? In all of that, this girl, Farida, does not believe in Jesus Christ. She is Yazidi, and worships Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel. She prays every day to the sun when it comes up, because the sun gives life to everything on earth, according to their belief system. She was raised in this faith. I cannot personally imagine going through what she did without the sustaining power of God within me. I believe God must have saved her life and allowed her to escape for a reason, and now I am praying that He would send someone in Germany to her to tell her the glorious truth of the Gospel. This is a real girl that is hiding out somewhere for fear of her life! She only escaped about a year and a half ago--I promise you she is still haunted by the horrors she has experienced, and will be for the rest of her life. But I think sometimes we tend to detach ourselves with the thought that "this happened so far away, it has nothing to do with me". Well, it actually does. And even if you can't personally reach out to someone in distress, you can pray for them. You can truly see them through the eyes of Christ instead of looking past them and their unimportant problems.

Let's not get so caught up in being strong that we can never be vulnerable with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Let's not forget to have compassion on those around us, both saved and unsaved. If they have Christ, lift them up and edify them. If they don't, find some way to tell them, or pray for someone to be sent. Let's stop being so intensely self focused and start trying to step into someone else's shoes for once. To feel their pain. To cry with them. To pray for and with them. To do what Christ, the compassionate Saviour, would do if He were here. Believe me, I know that sometimes it can be hard to know what to say or do for someone who is hurting! But sometimes just being there for them is enough. Just listening with an open and loving heart, and caring. Caring deeply. And loving them like Jesus would.
Mykaela

Sunday Snippets: What Do You Mean, I'm Selfish?!

Romans 15:1-3 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me."

My dad preached a message this morning in church that was really convicting for me. I normally write my Sunday Snippet posts on Saturday night, but I'm glad I didn't this time, because this sermon really touched my heart. Here in Romans 15, Paul is speaking about other brothers and sisters we have that are not as far along in their Christian walk as perhaps we may be. He is saying that we need to help them, bear their burdens alongside them, and not just "put up with" the scruples they have that are different and maybe a little strange. In Paul's day the big thing was with food--many Christians rightly understood that it is not what enters our body that defiles us, and that we have freedom in Christ to eat meats, or other things that some early Christians had hangups with. (I am of course not including alcohol, drugs, etc. in that list. It's a given that we are not to put that type of stuff in our bodies. We don't use our freedom in Christ to sin.) Anyway, we should be standing beside these weaker Christians and helping them to grow, not bashing them for what they believe is the right thing.

Let's broaden this out, though. Instead of just thinking about convictions, so to speak, let's apply this to all of life. We are supposed to "not to please ourselves". We ought not to please ourselves. It bears repeating. Every one of us is born with a natural desire to please ourselves. We are totally me-focused. We lay in bed at night planning out the next day, and what we can do for ourselves to make the day go well, or to have fun, or whatever. Me me me. But look at verse 3...can you think of any time in the entire Bible where Jesus Christ pleased Himself? Even one time? He talked about how the foxes have holes, and the birds have nests, but Jesus didn't even have a little shack to call His own, because His entire life on this earth was spent in serving others and not Himself. He was the King of the Universe, and yet the humblest of servants. What does this reflect on us, as we bicker and snap at one another to maintain "our rights" (as if we have any, as slaves of righteousness)? Wow. 

In God's Word, He speaks of the hireling that flees when the wolf comes, because he cares not for the sheep, and the wolf takes them away. Selfishness. The Prodigal Son, who wasted his living and brought great grief to his father for months or years. Selfishness. Amnon, who stole his half sister Tamar's purity and subsequently caused irreversible anguish and heartbreak that lasted for years and affected so many. Selfishness. David, who took Bathsheba for himself and had her husband murdered, causing a curse to come on his household, as well as making his old friend Ahithophel, (Bathsheba's grandfather) to turn against him. Selfishness. Ahab, who saw Naboth's vineyard and wanted it so much he was willing to commit murder to get it, and did. Selfishness. Need I go on? All throughout history, man has lived for himself, and not for God or others. And we are still doing it today. If you look at any normal day, I can promise you that a LOT of what you do is selfish. It is for me!! I think probably about 98% of what I do is selfish! :( That's why this message hit me so hard.

On the flip side of this, what is the opposite of selfishness? Selflessness! Just like Christ, we need to live every day to please others. Denying ourselves, not just for no reason (think monks who live as hermits, in poverty, etc.)--that is not the right kind of self denial. The kind of self denial that is pleasing to God is when we give up what we want in order to be a blessing and a servant to those around us. Selfishness can destroy families, relationships, churches, and lives. Let's strive to live each day pleasing others, not ourselves.

Mykaela