Given to Give

I spent most of my life in the church and most of that time thinking that I need to follow a bunch of rules. If I do what is "right" then God, my parents, teachers, friends, etc. would approve of me. That is called "works" religion. The idea that if I do the right things then I will be rewarded somehow or "blessed" in churchese.

The truth is...that was never what God intended. He gave us all those rules as a guide. When we find ourselves doing things that don't line up with what God has said, His guidlines help remind us of how we can get back to a healthy relationship with Him. When we are in a healthy relationship with the creator of the universe then we are in the place to have what Jesus called "abundant life." It's the difference between struggling through life and thriving. If this life is not about just following God's rules, what are we suppose to do?

John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16 give us the answer.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

God gave.

He gave us something so much bigger than all the guidelines. He gave His son to take the consequences for all the guidelines that we have not been able to follow.

1 John 3:16

We know what love is because Christ gave His life for us. We should give our lives for our brothers.

God gave. We give.

We give love to others because He first loved us. We give away our resources because He first loved us. We give away our time to serve others because He first loved us.

Our relationship with God is an ongoing story. The subject of the story is God. God gave. The object of the story is us. God gave His son for our benefit. The verb of the story is give. Because he first loved us and gave His son, we respond to this reality by giving our lives away to those around us. Give to someone today in some tangible way.