Feel Free To Give

Micah 6:[1-5] 6-8 and Proverbs 14:31

…and to walk humbly with your God?


One way to summarize what it might mean to believe in God is to say that you know that there is a God and you're not it. Another way of saying this would be to say, as Martin Luther explained the First Commandment, that we are to "fear, love, and trust in God above all things." One of the things that we are often trained in our society to love and trust more than God is our self.

Movies, TV shows, and books are full of stories about people who started out with nothing and made it to the top, the supposedly self-made men and women. We are taught to idolize those who make it and ridicule or avoid those who don't. But our Christian faith presents a different story: there are no self-made women or men. All that we have is a gift from God. Everything!

When we forget that, when we think that we, our talents, our intelligence, or our beauty is god, then we run into trouble. Micah reminds us that the source of all generosity is humility. When we know and acknowledge that everything we have and are is a gift from God, then we can freely share those gifts with anyone who is in need.


What personality trait, skill, or gift from God am I most proud of, and how can I use it to help others?


Prayer:
God of all creation, continue to remind me to be humble in your sight. Let my humility motivate me to do acts of kindness, mercy, and love. Amen


Action step:
Using your personality traits, skills, or gifts from God, come up with one specific way to help someone in need today. Do it.

contributed by Pastor Seth Moland-Kovash