DaySpring Daily Word of Inspiration: Acts 20:35 – In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said; “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
It has been an amazing week in God’s word and we come to this passage of scripture which helps us put some practical things into prospective. We all work hard in this life. Whether it is to support our families, ourselves, friends, or just to make it in general, we have our sights set on some goal to achieve. Well in God’s eyes our hard work in his kingdom is more important and beneficial. For one, it shows our desire to be diligent about the Lord’s affairs; taking on a care for our masters things as if they were our own and secondly, it shows our obedience to the word of God in absolute humility.
One area scripture tells us we should be hard workers in, that is have a desire to fulfill and be obedient to is the area of giving moreover than receiving. Automatically I’m sure most of you will think I’m about to make this devotional a concentrated talk regarding finances. Giving has so much more to do with the HEART in which you give (meaning anything) than it does with what you actually give. You can give people your time, conversation, energy, advice, attention, oh yeah and even your money and still have the wrong intentions. Your hard work at that point was to get YOUR point across, YOUR opinion heard, YOUR way in a situation or to get something out of it and maybe even something in return. I wonder who your hard work was really for. Who were you intending to glorify with YOUR hard work? Needless to say, a heart fixed on the Lord would have us working hard at being robotic to God’s word and not concerned about how much we did but that we actually just did whatever God gave us ability to do – as an act of service and obedience! In that, God gets all of the glory; we start to display a reciprocated action which he first did to us. That’s working hard to have Jesus’ own heart – you think he’d be happy about that?
Today we give knowing that God first gave to us and our natural response in gratitude should be to do the same. It is hard work to do what is right and just and pleasing in God’s eyes, however Jesus didn’t give in when the hard work he had to do was going to cost him his life; and we shouldn’t either. We pray that your hard work is in reference to remembering the Word(s) of God and not for trying to get the attention of other people for yourself. Give freely today because EVERYTHING you have has been given to you by God in the first place. You never know, he might just be able to bless you more if you were willing to let some things go. Think about it….. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!