“God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you…. Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then God will be given glory.” (1 Peter 4:10-11 NLT)
When God gives, he holds nothing back. He gives you every spiritual blessing available in the storehouses of Heaven (Ephesians 1:3), and he meets your every need.
Do you know what that means? It means you are free to be abundantly generous because God is taking care of you. He wants us to bless others on his behalf. We receive from God, then we give to others: “Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it” (1 Peter 4:10 MSG).
As Pastor Rick has been teaching, God is generous, so he wants us to become generous. It is a Jesus-like characteristic. Since we belong to Jesus 24/7 and our generosity is unlimited when guided by the Holy Spirit and energized by the life of Christ within us, we need to apply more creativity to our generosity.
We often complain about the superficial materialism that has overtaken Christmas. Godly generosity is the antidote to superficial materialism. Give some serious, intentional thought to how you can be generous this Christmas season, not in the sense of excessive gift giving but rather in helping and blessing those in need.
Talk About It
- Who are the people in your life whom God wants you to bless this Christmas?
- In what ways are you teaching your children or people under your influence how to be generous?
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This devotional © Copyright 2012 Jon Walker. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
