“So,
my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work
enthusiastically for the Lord,
for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:58
1 Corinthians 15:58
Our
giving makes a difference beyond what any of us can possibly imagine.
The
above passage is the last verse in the fifteenth chapter of Paul’s first
letter to the church in Corinth. In
that chapter Paul tells us something that couldn’t be more profound.
He tells us exactly what the Old Testament had insisted on, that is that
God is going to renew the entire planet and that as part of that renewal, every
believer will also be renewed, resurrected, re-embodied and given a new life on
a brand new heaven imbued earth. Once
there, we believers will know with crystal clarity that everything on this
planet earth that we have given to the Lord and to others will be found in the
New Creation. There is a very
real sense in which what we give to and do for the Lord in this life will be
used by the Lord as the “building blocks” of the New Creation, the new
Heaven on Earth world to come.
In this way the decision each of us makes in choosing the percentage of
our income that we dedicate on Sunday is a crucial one.
It’s a decision that lifts our vision to the world to come or holds our
gaze away from this temporal and fleeting world.
Secondly,
every single act of giving for the Lord and for the sake of others in this life
is a seed planted that God causes to grow, not only in the world to come but
also in this one. When Paul
tells us to work enthusiastically for the Lord, knowing that nothing we do for
him is ever in vain, Paul is speaking from experience.
He had the incredible joy of seeing the giving of himself (including his
finances) to the Lord and to others bringing a harvest of changed lives, lives
whose suffering in this life has been relieved and lives whose eternal destiny
with the Lord has become assured. Paul
is telling each of us, that we can “take that to the bank”.
For
more:
follow on Twitter @jefflampl
No comments:
Post a Comment