“A Cheerful Giver"

 

    Consider the anticipatory joy experienced when we possess a gift for a beloved friend or family member that we must wait to bestow.  Multiply that by an infinite measure regarding how our Heavenly Father must feel as He looks forward to providing grace and goodness for His trusting children in the Lord Jesus Christ.  

    "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Matthew 12:32).

    Many of our Lord's gifts must wait for the ultimate redemption of all things that will usher in our eternal state of blessedness in Christ.  Some, however, flow to us in the present as we trust God for His provision and supply.  "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:5).  We do well to expect such beneficence, honoring our Lord by realizing and affirming that He loves to meet our needs, as well as fulfill many of our desires.  Certainly, we do not sully His reputation or ours by misrepresenting our Father as slavishly subject to fanciful human whims.  He gives according to the glory of His Son, our best interests, and the benefit of those with whom we live our lives.  He gives nonetheless, and we do well to affirm both His generosity and His wisdom in bestowing "every good gift and every perfect gift" (James 1:17).

    Scripture calls us to view God with great anticipation regarding His anticipation for providing for us in both this life and the next.  Moreover, such expectation plays a role in how we experience His generosity.  If we anticipate little, we will likely receive little.  "Ye have not because ye ask not…according to your faith be it unto you" (James 4:2; Matthew 9:29).  Most importantly, we must perceive our Father as greatly desirous to provide far more than we likely expect.  He "loveth a cheerful giver" because He is a cheerful giver (II Corinthians 9:7).  Such assurance, tempered by the awareness that He gives in accordance with His purposes and wisdom in Christ, forms within us confident and reasonable expectation of the goodness  that follows us all the days of our lives, and will greet us far more in the life to come…

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

(Ephesians 3:20-21)

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

(Matthew 6:28-33)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

(Ephesians 1:3)