The Joy of Generosity

At one point in the message this past weekend, I was reminded of when I was a young mom with four little children. I was concerned about the influence of our consumer culture on our kids. I remember chatting with my dad about this and he said, “Don’t focus on teaching them not to be materialistic; focus on teaching them the joy of generosity.”

I have thought of that and needed to be reminded of it in my own life many times since then. God has been reminding me recently that falling in love with His story for my life is infinitely more effective as a follower of Jesus than having my main focus on what needs to be fixed.
One of my favourite texts regarding this principle of replacement is, “…Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). I still struggle lots, but I am much more effective when my energy is spent struggling to be in tune with God and His heart. This old chorus says it so well, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

Joy!
Rita

PS ~ Hey church, as of this writing, we're working on a few situations where we're able to take our loose change from last weekend and answer prayers for some people. We'll tell you more about it on the weekend, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks once again for your generosity. ~ Greg