II Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

STUFF

I love the reminder here in this verse that although Christ was God, He gave up His “riches” to be poor for us. He willingly gave up all to pour out His grace and love to us, the ungrateful lot we are. He came to die, even though He knew He would be rejected by many and scorned by others.

What are you willing to give up for others? Are you willing to give without any hope of it being returned? I use to have a quite a book collection. Over the years and many moves I have given away or sold a lot of them. But I will always remember someone telling me once to never lend a book I wasn’t willing to give away.

TEACHING MOMENT

Do you teach your children that principle of giving? Do you show them the joy to giving to others? How do you show that? Do you force them to take some of their toys to Goodwill? That’s not really a great way to do that. Forced giving is not joyful giving, is it? The Lord desires us to give joyfully and willingly. I Timothy 6:18 tells us to “be generous and willing to share.” Are you?

Is there anything in your possession that you would not give away? If there is, that is the very thing you must be willing to give over to the Lord. There should be nothing that you or your family are not willing to give up for Him. Things tie you down. Holding it loosely allows you to live freely with Christ.

I am probably one of the worse when it comes to holding on to stuff. I got it honestly from my dad. He kept everything, in case he might need it later. There is nothing wrong with being frugal unless it becomes a burden and you find yourself obsessed with holding stuff too tightly. Let it go! Give it up! Remember that everything you have is from the hands of the Father.