Daily Devotional: 7/7/2018 - THE GIVER
"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must heal the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35
The Giver by Lois Lowry is a great book, I definitely recommend it plus it is very short; the move was ight. The idea of the book is that is it set in a futuristic dystopia and to get rid of the pain and strife they converted to "sameness". They take away everything, everybody living there is basically living like a robot. There is one person that holds onto all the memories of everything (past conflicts, struggles, the good times, etc.), emotional and physical feelings, physical attributes (like color), and more like that. There is a little boy, Jonah, who was chosen to be the next "Receiver" since the current one is getting old. Throughout the book, the old Reciever, “The Giver”, would give these feelings, memories, and attributes to Jonah. He was giving Jonah all he needed in life, he was giving Jonah everything he was missing in life. He gave Jonah his life. In the sense of Jesus we have to do the same. We have to share and give people the good news, not only are we called but we are demanded to. And hey, who does not like receiving and sharing good news; and this the best of news (daily front page stuff). We have to share about the love that was given to us through the sacrificial lamb. It is always better to give than to receive. Alright it is your time to think, remember of a time a you received a gift (Christmas, birthday, random), do not worry I will wait. It felt good right, made you feel good inside? Now remember the last time you gave someone a gift (Christmas, birthday, random), again do not worry I will wait I got all day. It felt even better right?! The sight of seeing someone else smile from ear to ear and the pure joy on their face is everything. It is always amazing to see someone else happy and feel loved (99% of the time it is the highlight of their day). This is one of the constant themes of the Bible, it is through the love of God that everything happened and happens. Jesus constantly gave and loved, God constantly gave and loved, the Apostles constantly gave and love. It is always good to follow the examples that were set out in front of us. It is never a bad idea to follow the example of God, but for this it is going to be a little bit harder than usual sin he did give up his life for us in order for us to live a life without the burden of sin; but hey anything is possible with our God, all we have to do is give our life to him. But it is possible having a devoted giving heart and that is the example we get from the Apostles. The Apostles gave in so many different ways. They lived their life for God and his glory. They gave up everything to follow Jesus, who was just this random guy they just met. They literally gave up everything, including and not limited to their money, job, and their family. They gave the good news to people, they constantly talked about their faith and the story of Jesus with people. And in turn they literally gave up their life for the mission. A perfect example is Stephen who was stoned to death because of what he believed in. They gave up their rights and freedoms in order to spread and give people the message. They were wrongfully imprisoned on countless occasions for what they were doing and what they believed in. Most of the Paul’s letters in the New Testament were written while he was in prison. Through this giving we help people, we help the physically, emotionally, and spiritually weak. When we give we are following the example, but we are also leading by example. We help them get stronger in everything we give them hope. We build them up the same way that Jesus built and builds us up. It is nice to receive but is so much better to give. Give the good news and give people the hope and strength to live a life full of giving and to be in Jesus.
Lord, thank you for all you do. Thank you for waking all of us up this morning. Thank you for the strength and daily blessing. Thank you for giving us life, a life full of you. I pray that you are with us giving the strength to give in your name and love in your name. Allow us to be the light in someone’s day and allow us to brighten someone’s life. I pray all this in your son’s name, Amen.
#LetsBeAMovement
The Giver by Lois Lowry is a great book, I definitely recommend it plus it is very short; the move was ight. The idea of the book is that is it set in a futuristic dystopia and to get rid of the pain and strife they converted to "sameness". They take away everything, everybody living there is basically living like a robot. There is one person that holds onto all the memories of everything (past conflicts, struggles, the good times, etc.), emotional and physical feelings, physical attributes (like color), and more like that. There is a little boy, Jonah, who was chosen to be the next "Receiver" since the current one is getting old. Throughout the book, the old Reciever, “The Giver”, would give these feelings, memories, and attributes to Jonah. He was giving Jonah all he needed in life, he was giving Jonah everything he was missing in life. He gave Jonah his life. In the sense of Jesus we have to do the same. We have to share and give people the good news, not only are we called but we are demanded to. And hey, who does not like receiving and sharing good news; and this the best of news (daily front page stuff). We have to share about the love that was given to us through the sacrificial lamb. It is always better to give than to receive. Alright it is your time to think, remember of a time a you received a gift (Christmas, birthday, random), do not worry I will wait. It felt good right, made you feel good inside? Now remember the last time you gave someone a gift (Christmas, birthday, random), again do not worry I will wait I got all day. It felt even better right?! The sight of seeing someone else smile from ear to ear and the pure joy on their face is everything. It is always amazing to see someone else happy and feel loved (99% of the time it is the highlight of their day). This is one of the constant themes of the Bible, it is through the love of God that everything happened and happens. Jesus constantly gave and loved, God constantly gave and loved, the Apostles constantly gave and love. It is always good to follow the examples that were set out in front of us. It is never a bad idea to follow the example of God, but for this it is going to be a little bit harder than usual sin he did give up his life for us in order for us to live a life without the burden of sin; but hey anything is possible with our God, all we have to do is give our life to him. But it is possible having a devoted giving heart and that is the example we get from the Apostles. The Apostles gave in so many different ways. They lived their life for God and his glory. They gave up everything to follow Jesus, who was just this random guy they just met. They literally gave up everything, including and not limited to their money, job, and their family. They gave the good news to people, they constantly talked about their faith and the story of Jesus with people. And in turn they literally gave up their life for the mission. A perfect example is Stephen who was stoned to death because of what he believed in. They gave up their rights and freedoms in order to spread and give people the message. They were wrongfully imprisoned on countless occasions for what they were doing and what they believed in. Most of the Paul’s letters in the New Testament were written while he was in prison. Through this giving we help people, we help the physically, emotionally, and spiritually weak. When we give we are following the example, but we are also leading by example. We help them get stronger in everything we give them hope. We build them up the same way that Jesus built and builds us up. It is nice to receive but is so much better to give. Give the good news and give people the hope and strength to live a life full of giving and to be in Jesus.
Lord, thank you for all you do. Thank you for waking all of us up this morning. Thank you for the strength and daily blessing. Thank you for giving us life, a life full of you. I pray that you are with us giving the strength to give in your name and love in your name. Allow us to be the light in someone’s day and allow us to brighten someone’s life. I pray all this in your son’s name, Amen.
#LetsBeAMovement
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