Tag: attitude

Cheerful Heart Giving

2 Corinthians 9

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Have you ever planted a tomato seed? What was going through your head when you buried it in the dirt? Were you wondering how this small speck of matter could ever turn into an ingredient for the perfect BLT?

What was your attitude when planting this seed? Where you already drooling over the image you had in your head of that BLT? Were you skeptical it would even grow? Or maybe it wasn’t your idea to plant it and you held a grudge that the task fell to you.

While Paul wasn’t writing to the Corinthians about tomatoes or BLTs in this chapter, he did parallel the similarity between tithing and sowing seeds. He wanted the Corinthians to give with a cheerful heart and not out of compulsion or with a heart that was holding a grudge because of giving.

Whether time or financially I feel like this can be a difficulty. There is always something else we could be doing with our time or something else we could be buying with our money. But the importance of giving our time or finances to the LORD is the attitude that we have when doing so.

If we plant that tomato seed with a heart of anger, we may not appreciate the process of watching God grow the seed we planted into a bountiful and beautiful tomato plant. Sure, we can plant it with anger and still enjoy the outcome of the BLT and maybe even that outcome is what will change our perspective next planting season. But the joy of watching God take what has been sown and multiply it into something that we could never even have imagined may be missed with a heart that is misplaced.

When planting a seed, whether time or money, with a cheerful heart we not only receive the opportunity to minister to others, we also are able to enjoy the process of the LORD multiplying it. In the end, when we harbor a cheerful heart for the LORD, the BLT will taste a whole lot better. 

-Hannah Deane

Application Questions

  1. What difference does the attitude make in either cheerful generosity or grudgingly given?
  2. Which attitude do you most often have when giving of your time? Or your finances? If there is a specific area in which you struggle to give cheerfully, how can you work towards improving that attitude?
  3. What do you gain when you give, especially with a good attitude, according to 2 Corinthians verses 6-15?
2022 SeekGrowLove Bible Reading PlanDownload

Is it OK to be Rich?

More than a third of the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day according to research done by the United Nations.  You might not consider yourself rich if you compare yourself to others in the United States (and many other countries), but most or all of you are probably quite rich when looking at the whole world.  Is it ok to be rich?

Let’s first consider Solomon, the richest king that ever was.  God gave him wealth, possessions, and honor such as no king before or after him (2 Chronicles 1:12).  God made Solomon rich, so the good news is that we have an example of someone who was very rich and it was ok in God’s eyes.

Being rich may be ok, but the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-24 received advice from Jesus that made him sad.  Jesus told him if he wanted to be perfect, he should sell his possessions and give to the poor.  He then told his disciples that it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom.  Jesus had more to say about the matter in Luke 6:20-26.  He said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”  He went on to say, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”  Jesus was warning us that being rich could interfere with your salvation.

Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 says that whoever loves money never has enough, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income, and this is meaningless.  It also says that the abundance of the rich permits them no sleep.  However, it also says that it is appropriate for a person to eat, drink, and find satisfaction in their labor during the few days God has given them.  It explains that it is a gift from God when He gives someone wealth, possessions, and the ability to enjoy them.

This may be a bit confusing to hear that wealth can be good or bad.  I think it all boils down to your attitude and how you spend your money.  If money is your master, you are always wanting and trying to get more, and you spend it all on yourself; that is bad.  If you realize that your money comes from God, is actually owned by God, and is not the focus of your life, it is fine to enjoy that gift from God from time to time.

I now want to change gears a bit here and talk about yesterday’s devotion on tithing a bit more.  I said it was not mentioned in the New Testament that we should tithe.  However, there are two verses in the New Testament (Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42) that talk about the Pharisees giving a tenth of their spices and Jesus scolding them for neglecting justice, mercy, faithfulness, and the love of God, and saying they should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.  I do not consider these two verses a mandate for us today to tithe ten percent of our earnings, although I can see how it can be interpreted that way.  These individuals were giving a tenth of their spices and Jesus said they should continue to do that.  If they had said they were fasting, I think Jesus might have told them to continue to do that, but I don’t think that necessarily means we all must fast today.

I could be wrong about this, but I don’t think the ten percent tithe is a specific rule we must follow today like the many rules they were required to follow in the Old Testament.  However, I definitely believe we should be giving money to the church, and I think it would be fine to look at what they were instructed to do and model that by giving ten percent of your earnings to the church.  I also believe it is possible that God wants some people to give more than ten percent.

Paul never discussed tithing ten percent, but he did talk about giving.  In 2 Corinthians 8:3, he said the Macedonians gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.  In 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 he says, “Remember this:  Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  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.”  In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he told them that they should set aside a sum of money in keeping with their income on the first day of every week (1 Corinthians 16:2).  I think if it was still a rule to tithe ten percent, Paul would have mentioned it, but instead he talked about giving with the proper attitude and according to your income.

-Rick McClain

Today’s 2021 Bible reading plan passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway.com here – Isaiah 55-56 and 2 Timothy 3

2021-seekgrowlove-bible-reading-plan-1Download

Moving a Mountain

Philippians 2

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One of the most difficult things I have done in my life was move rocks. Last year at UP: PROJECT we moved, what seemed to be, a mountain at Timber Oaks Retreat center. During this time the majority of us had a hard time not complaining after the 4th day of “Rock Duty”.

Paul writes in Philippians 2:14 “Do all things without grumbling and disputing.” In this passage of Philippians 2 he is referring to the idea of being selfless. When we saw that giant hillside of rocks it made us grumble about how little we think we did, but in a selfless mindset we should understand that we did more than we think we did. There were at least 30 of us on that trip and it took around 5 days to get the hillside to look even remotely like we did something, and we even had a tractor! Paul, and I assume Christ, would call us to not grumble when we serve others but focus on what we are doing to help the ones we serve. Just imagine if 4 or 5 people had to do the work of 30! Next time you serve remember why you are serving and put a smile on your face.

Jesse Allen

Kind and Good

Kindness & Goodness 2

Some have referred to kindness and goodness as the twin fruits. Kindness and goodness are so closely related that sometimes it is not easy to distinguish between them. A kind person is also a good person; a good person is by nature a kind person. Both of these characteristics stem from love. Some have said that patience is suffering love; kindness is compassionate love; and goodness is ministering love.

Kindness is more about our attitude and goodness is more about the things we do for others.  Some people are born with a kind, gentle personality. This may come natural to them. But others have to lean on the power of the Holy Spirit to help them be nice.

These characteristics which are produced in us by the Holy Spirit have to do with our relationships to others. We usually think of kindness as an expression of love from one person to another, and of goodness as a quality of being pure.  It is striking that parents are forever telling their children to “be good,” but they never need to suggest the opposite to them. Being “bad” seems to come naturally.

Without the Holy Spirit within us, our nature is inclined toward that which is evil and bad. But the Holy Spirit produces in us kindness and goodness, helping us to minister to the world with the love of Jesus. What the world needs is Jesus—that means more love, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and caring generosity.

Katie-Beth Fletcher

Who Do You Do It For?

Isaiah 58-60

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Thursday, February 23

Overall today’s chapters really focus on being genuine as a follower of Christ. This is sometimes really difficult for a lot of people to recognize and to truly understand. If you grew up in a church, or if you have been to church often, or you’re a “New Christian” you might feel like there are rules to follow, whether written or unwritten. Rules like, read your Bible every day, pray before every meal, go to church every single Sunday, go to church camp, talk to all your friends about God all the time, invite a friend to youth group, or Bible study. Some people fast, there are certain rules about when to be baptized, etc. I hope you get the gist, that sometimes it feels like in order to be a “perfect” or even a “good Christian” you have to do these things all the time. All of those things are awesome and great, if you remember to do all those things, I think you are amazing, and you inspire me, because I will be completely honest; I don’t read my Bible every day- I do most days, but sometimes I don’t. I don’t pray before every meal, again, I pray before most meals, but sometimes I am eating while I am walking to class and I forget. Sometimes I miss going to church on Sunday because I slept in, or the snow was really deep (although that would be a pretty poor excuse right now, as there is so snow in February in central Indiana) or I was sick. We are not perfect and these chapters recognize this, but especially in chapter 58. Doing “all the right things” can be important, but not if we are seeking the approval of people. Reading your Bible often is important, and praying often is important, going to church and fellowshipping with other believers is important, but it is not right if we are doing it to “fit in” or to look like a “good christian” to other believers. These chapters call us out- if we choose to fast, it needs to be to focus on our relationship with God, if we choose to read our Bible every single day, it needs to be to deepen our understanding and trust of God. I challenge you today to think about your heart and your attitude. Why are you reading your bible? Is it because you want to please people? Or because you want to please God. -If you do read your Bible every day as you might be if you are following the 2016 FUEL Bible reading plan, I hope you check your “attitude at the door” before you read and really focus on growing closer to God, because that is the point of spending time in his word. Praying is awesome, but again check your heart and do it to talk with our heavenly Father who is amazing and all powerful. Do all good things for God and only for him. Do not do them to gain favor from people, only do them to focus on God and your relationship with him, because we are blessed to be able to have an individual relationship with him. I hope you enjoyed reading today, and I hope you come back tomorrow. Thanks!

-Jana Swanson

Some songs for today:

Beautiful Things by: Gungor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is6weMrenls

Come As You Are by: Crowder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2zhf2mqEMI

 

(Photo Credit: http://www.alittleperspective.com/isaiah-59-and-60/)

“Curtains, I don’t want to carry curtains!” (Numbers 3-4)

Wednesday, August 31

At the Lord’s command through Moses, each was assigned his work and told what to carry. Numbers 4:49

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By Rebecca Dauksas

Being a child of God and a follower of Christ is the most incredible privilege in the world.  How amazing that we are called to serve the Creator of the universe and His Son! But sometimes the jobs that we do for the LORD can seem insignificant, unpleasant or down right gross. Let me explain.  I am a youth worker and I love it.  The time I have spent with youth has been amazing.  But no one told me that there would be tasks involved like unclogging the youth room toilet.  Not my favorite task and probably no one else wants that one either.  But it is necessary.

In Numbers 3 the tribe of Levi was given to assist Aaron the priest and his sons. They were to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the tent of meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle. They were to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle. The Levite clans were counted and then they were given their specific tasks that they were to carryout.  Literally to “CARRY OUT”.  They were physically carrying, taking care and showing proper respect for the furnishings and the tabernacle itself.  This is where a person’s attitude toward their acts of service is so important.  Imagine what enters the mind of a Levite Gershonite when he is told about carrying curtains.  He can think, “Curtains, I don’t want to carry curtains along with all that other stuff to load on carts. The other clans have much easier jobs than this.”  Or he can think, “I am thankful that I can help move the tabernacle so we can have the LORD’s place of worship to be the focal point everywhere we travel.”

We should be thankful for the opportunity to carry out God’s work and have a positive attitude while we perform that work. We have this chance every time we serve God and others.  Remembering that whether our acts of service are big or small, if they are performed because we love God and others, those tasks have real meaning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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