Generosity Brings Joy

“These believers have been tested by great troubles, and they are very poor. But their great joy caused them to be very generous in their giving. I can tell you that they gave as much as they were able and even more than they could afford. No one told them to do this. It was their idea.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭8:2-3‬ ‭ERV‬‬

Does it surprise you that that the joyful givers were the community that had so much trouble and were very poor? Wow! Let that speak to your heart.

Go look through your abundance of stuff and decide you can give a lot of it away to some who is more needy than you. Get ready to feel the amazing feeling of joy that comes with generosity! 

Entitlement or Gratitude

“Every temptation speaks the language of entitlement.
The soul’s enemy has always hissed entitlement: “You deserve it.” And it’s turned out: Deciding you’re deserving, can lead to your destroying.” ~Ann Voskamp

I was reading this devotional this week and these thoughts stopped me in my tracks. I have two choices...my entitlement or my gratitude. When I think that God is not “making me happy,” it means that I do not have a heart of gratitude for all that he has done. I decide I want to make my own decisions and go down the wide, attractive road. The wide road always, always seems to be the best choice. But when I get further down that way, the consequences are not what I wanted.

The narrow road is harder but if I just have a thankful heart for all God has done for me and that I can trust him, the road has a surprising end. The rewards for choosing this narrow road are always good, maybe not immediately, but in time they will be very good.