(Friends: Most Saturdays for the duration of this year, I plan on sharing a message that relates to the character and nature of God, and our response thereunto. I hope you will find it helpful, and as always, thanks for allowing us to send the devotionals to you. Glen).
The Saturday Series - 16
"The Cheerful Giver"
The reason Scripture teaches that "God loveth a cheerful giver" is because He is Himself a cheerful Giver (II Corinthians 9:7). Indeed, He is the Cheerful Giver. We should be most grateful for this truth because all things, including ourselves, depend on the Lord for their original and sustained existence.
"By Him all things consist" (Colossians 1:17).
"What has thou that thou didst not receive?" (I Corinthians 4:7).
Generosity does not begin to describe this character trait of the Lord who loves to bless, provide, and bestow the bounty of His heart and hand upon creation. Only one true Giver exists. He provides from the resources that originate in Himself. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights" (John 1:3; Psalm 24:1; James 1:17). All others who give act as stewards of that which God first provides. We serve as conveyors, and exert time, effort, and sacrifice (God-given and enabled). The source, however, always remains The Cheerful Giver: "For of Him, and through Him and to Him are all things" (Romans 11:36). Thus, everything we have ever received, or ever will receive, came to us and comes to us from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. "He giveth to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25). Generosity? The word is not big enough.
We must know and embrace this truth about our blessed Lord. The hymnist did, and beautifully penned, "Out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again." God loves to give, and to give, and to give again, in perpetuity. This is who He is, and this is what He does. In fact, our Father so loves to supply for the need of His creation that if it means the sacrifice of that which is most dear to Him, He will do it. He did it.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only beloved Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
No words can describe the generosity that provides not only "life and breath and all things," but also gave the life and breath and totality of the Lord Jesus to the cross for the redemption of sinners. Such sacrifice tells us more than anything about the wondrously generous heart of God. It also confirms our Father's determination to provide for us in this day. According to His perfect wisdom and application, we can be confident in His promise that "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). The cross assures us of such goodness as the Cheerful Giver continually reveals the infinite generosity of His heart by the indescribable grace of His hand…
"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
(Romans 8:32)
Weekly Memory Verse
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True.
(Revelation 19:11)
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