In giving, for me, there is always the dilemma of how much to help and when to get involved. I had a neighbor friend offer a book for me to read titled "When Giving Hurts". The premise of the book as described by her is that when giving, you have the other person do something in return. During our conversation I mentioned a neighbor that had back issues and was on disability. In trying to decide how to help, it was shared to me that in the past a friend would offer to help clean his house periodically. When I mentioned this to the neighbor she said, "Well he would have to do something in return". Her response caused me to pause.
As I chewed on her advice, without reading the book, I thought to see what the bible says about helping others. As you may have read, it implies to help those who cannot give in return. Take Luke 14:12-14 as an example. "Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor [thy] rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."
Thankfully Christ gives freely of his grace and forgiveness recognizing there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, but it is a gift from God!
Now in that forgiveness we will change our behavior as he molds us into his likeness and makes us new creatures, but it is his unconditional love that draws us to him daily! We will mess up, we will make mistakes, we will not be our best all the time, but for the grace of God over time we will become more like him, but it is not our works that make us holy, but his mercy towards us each new day.
Ephesians 2:9-10 puts it like this. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them".
So my journey continues, and I pray yours does too, for the world will know him by our love.
Song: https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqISTa3lVDx0AV6f7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTEwNHFjZHZtBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDQjAxNDAEZ3BvcwM1?p=People+Will+Know+Jesus+By+Our+Love&vid=04fc4908fa32c01f828f9f51115bbf47&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DWN.31%252bbF4sW3wWbd%252baSB%252bsu7A%26pid%3D15.1%26h%3D360%26w%3D480%26c%3D7%26rs%3D1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D7hNnq4RjW3w&tit=Christy+Nockels+-+By+Our+Love+w%2FLyrics&c=4&h=360&w=480&l=214&sigr=11b8k66sc&sigt=11681flvj&sigi=12q5s4i77&age=1316735177&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=aaplw&tt=b
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