Monday... This loan will be paid in full.

Have you found it hard to pay back your loans? Christmas is a time that we so much want to give but we just don't have enough so we find it easy to use those credit cards or find someone who will give us a loan but then comes the new year and we have to pay them back and it is so hard. And in turn, it is usually an impossible time for us to give a loan, isn't it? But God is wanting us to give Him a loan?

And that is a loan that we really want to give, isn't it? Now, it's not that He needs what we have but He knows others that do, so when we are giving to them we are in fact giving a loan to God. And this is the perfect time to do it.

Here is how Proverbs 19:17 (MSG) puts it. It says, "Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full." And that is a loan we really do want and need to give.

But we in our self-centered focus and our high opinions of what we think tend to want to give judgement and criticism more than mercy. It is not natural for us to give mercy so we need to go to God and get a loan from Him. And that is a loan that He will pay in full because He knows that we also really, really do and will need mercy.

Verse 17 in the Amplified Bible says, "He who is gracious and lends a hand to the poor lends to the Lord, and the Lord will repay him for His good deeds." So many need grace and a helping hand and in turn so do we.

Now that is a tremendous place to give a loan to and the return is unbelievable. And that is a loan that He knows we need to give. It really is.

This is the time of the year that we celebrate the greatest gift even given and if this is what He wants then we need to give it. Again, "Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full." Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Comments

Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together!

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together! They really do. And this is what caught my attention this morning as I was reading Proverbs 2. Verse 1 (NRSVUE) says, "My child, if you accept my words and treasure my commands within you." Verse 3 (NIV), "Indeed i f you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, Verse 4, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, Verse 5, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." And verses 9-11, " Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you." There will always be some effort we must do, some ifs for the thens to be realized in our lives. So many of us want to understand without the ifs. But the thens are so worth, so very worth the effort. Verses 5-6 in the Ampli...

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless.

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless. It really can. I have found that unless I give the correct email of my wife then I can't get what I wanted. I put an extra i in her email and I have been working for 5 days to get it changed. Unless has been useless. The writer of Psalm 94 uses this word and shows how important it is. Verses 17-19 (NLT) says, "Unless the Lord had helped me, I would have soon settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, 'I'm slipping!' but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer." "Unless the Lord had helped me." So many people go on and on and on striving to live their life on their own but they keep slipping and doubting and living without hope and cheer. Yes the Lord has such unfailing love for us, he really does but unless we have a relationship with him and we turn to him and ask him for help then the unless turns in to useless because h...

Todays Beginning

Search This Blog