{"id":247,"date":"2019-02-07T00:13:46","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T00:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graceamazingly.wordpress.com\/?p=247"},"modified":"2019-02-07T00:13:46","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T00:13:46","slug":"to-freely-give-will-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/2019\/02\/07\/to-freely-give-will-i\/","title":{"rendered":"To freely give\u2026 will I?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Me me me.\nThe root of much of today\u2019s social, economic and political problems is\nselfishness. To be more exact, putting me first without taking consideration\nabout how my action could put others in a far less favourable condition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I don\u2019t think we should live a life of complete \u2018for-otherness\u2019, for example, shelter, freedom of mind and companionship are basic capacity of a person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s creation order has a relationship logic that spans vertically (e.g. heaven and sea) and horizontally (growth of nature). God\u2019s fundamental basis for human is healthy relationships both to God\u2019s creation order and with others.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I often think of generosity as giving something away without compulsion. And if you are really generous, then you give more, more regularly, or both. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The birth of Jesus is an act of generosity of sacrificial proportion. God gave his son Jesus to the world. Jesus generously obeyed his father\u2019s will, and acted generously to those around him. He also generously fulfilled the requirements of the law. This paved the way for God\u2019s generous \u201cwelcome home\u201d call to all of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although we are not in the same place to show generosity as God and Jesus did, we are called to be generous. It is an evidence of growing in Christ according to Galatians 5:22. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way\nJesus taught his disciples to pray recounts generosity: God, please forgive us,\nand having received the generosity, enable us to do the same generosity to\nthose who have wronged us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generosity\nsounds like something that happens within a purpose. Giving something away without\nmuch thought does not sound like being generous, but being wasteful. The widow\nwho gave all away, her two coins, is being generous for God\u2019s purposes. The\nwidow who gave her food away to feed Elijah even though that\u2019s her last meal\nwith her own son is being generous to the end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stories\nare being made today with the church in certain parts of the world, where\nChristians showed generosity to their own who are under grave persecution. This\nis not only in material terms such as providing necessities, spiritual support\nby news and prayer, but also by going through grave personal danger in order\nthat important items are brought to the suffering part of the family. Often a\nbrief meeting is a generous act of insurmountable proportion for both sides,\nencouraging them in their faith, in the maturing of the fruit of the spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although generosity\nin itself probably will not cure the world\u2019s problem overnight, it provides the\nright framework. A relationship unit (e.g. a family) that shows generosity\namongst its members has great capacity to forge trust and support, less of\nI-me-my, more of we-us. It can then devote its energy to what it should do,\nrather than on fixing problems caused by the I-me-my relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a time when people think more about family and loved ones, sharing time with those who need friendship and companionship over the holidays will be a generous act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s traditional that families spend time together over a festive period. Let\u2019s put in more generosity in our acts (e.g. offerings, prayers) and events (meals, choirs). Do them with the eternal purpose of God\u2019s coming to us. Open our church to strangers; open our house to those in need of a warm welcome. <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Me me me. The root of much of today\u2019s social, economic and political problems is selfishness. To be more exact, putting me first without taking consideration about how my action could put others in a far less favourable condition. However, I don\u2019t think we should live a life of complete \u2018for-otherness\u2019, for example, shelter, freedom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-knowing-god-outcome","7":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}