Generosity won’t happen unless you make it a priority. The best way to make giving a priority is to make it the very first check you write every month. Before the mortgage. Before groceries or clothing. Before saving. Whatever the amount, do it first.
When you make giving a priority, something happens inside of you. Especially when it’s financially challenging to do so. It’s like you loosen your grip on a value system whose motto says, “Money is the key to life and happiness and safety.”
Generosity helps us make a concerted effort to keep the needs of others in the forefront of our thinking. Not for guilt’s sake, but for the sake of being good stewards of the resources we have been privileged to manage.
I’m concerned about the plight of children. But I’m not on a mission to get all the available orphans in the world adopted into Christian homes.
One of the primary reasons we don’t seek counsel from the wise people around us is that we already know what we are going to hear – and we just don’t want to hear it.
Are you the person the person you’re looking for is looking for?
Preaching is not talking to people about the Bible; it is talking to people about themselves from the Bible.
If you decide that what God is asking you to do with your life is just too much on you and is just a little too inconvenient, then you will never see the miracles he has for you.
You don’t sit around looking for reasons to do the right thing; it’s the bad decisions that require creative reasoning.
Relationships are built on small, consistent deposits of time. You can’t cram for what’s most important. If you want to connect with your kids, you’ve got to be available consistently, not randomly.
If you are “seeking first” his kingdom where you are, then where you are is where he has positioned you.
Victims don’t want to be proactive about changing – they want to be proactive about making sure that the person who hurt them pays. And so we spend our energy telling our sad stories rather than taking responsibility for our behavior. Thus we open the door of our hearts and welcome in the Trojan horse of bitterness. And it stands there, a monument, a constant reminder of a debt someone has yet to pay. Somebody owes us.
Dreamers dream about things being different. Visionaries envision themselves making a difference. Dreamers think about how nice it would be for something to be done. Visionaries look for an opportunity to do something.
Jesus did not come to strike a balance between grace and truth. He brought the full measure of both... It’s easy to create an all-truth church model. It may be even easier to create an all-grace model, but Jesus didn’t leave either option on the table.
But in the areas that matter most, a burst of energy and activity cannot reverse the consequences that accompany a season of neglect.
Prayer keeps the burden fresh. It keeps our eyes and hearts in an expectant mode.
So what’s the deal with the desert? I don’t know. But I do know the time between catching a glimpse of what God wants to do through us and the time when we are led to move out often feels like a desert experience. The desert always feels like a complete waste of time. It is only when we are able to look back that our desert experiences make sense.
If we’re going to reach the unchurched, underchurched, dechurched, and postchurched with the gospel in a culture that’s trending post-Christian, we must rethink our approach.
Giving is the way God chooses to change our hearts. As your heart changes, your attitude and feelings will follow suit. God loves a cheerful giver, but he’ll put your money to good use whether you’re cheerful or not. My advice: Give until you get cheerful. As I’ve said, our giving must impact our.
Kindness is love’s response to weakness.