Does your day often feel unfinished? Your house, your work, your kids, or your money? Sometimes we just want things to be finished and complete. 

Hebrews 10:14-18

14 "For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

Your sins are finished and forgiven, you are free and loved. 

Have you gone to God for your simple needs? What if the reason we don’t feel like he is our everlasting father, is that we have never asked Him to be? 

Join Garrett Shelp for today’s episode of, “The Spiritual Deep Dive in Five”.

The Wounded Giver - Jospeh (Genesis 45:1-11.) 

To be generous when the need is great, the cause is noble, or the people receiving will be blessed is in the end easy to do. What’s not easy is being generous to an enemy. Have you ever dished out food to someone you were upset with? Joseph shows us that generosity towards people we don’t like is a pathway to our own healing. The best correction of the wrong is the practice of the better. Is there someone or some issue God would ask you to look again at despite your negative feelings? What if God is asking you to be generous towards someone or something you don’t feel comfortable with today? I would suggest it’s more about you getting better than them.

 

The Eccentric Giver - Woman with Alabaster Jar (Mark 14:3.) 

There are times when giving, showing compassion, and being generous is going to look foolish. There are moments that come to us when we have to forfeit what others may say of us to be able to respond to the opportunity before us. There may be a moment in our life when we realize we value perception more than money. How could being generous or showing love be at odds with how you’re seen by others? What will become of us when we are invited to follow God into the unknown of losing our reputations? 

The Creative Giver - Barnabas (Acts 4:36-37.) 

Sometimes what we have isn’t money. Barnabas was creative because he was free to be generous. He was also creative because the need was great. When we are open and faced with limitations, creativity can thrive. Being generous with our talent can be just as valuable as cash. A lot of us may have even come to realize that giving money is starting to feel like the minimum for us. What if my mind, my skills, my attention, my experience, even my presence could be a blessing if I was generous with it? 

The Faithful Giver - The Poor Widow (Luke 21:1-4.) 

This woman was doing what she felt was right. She did not intend to be seen. She wanted to be hidden. She was being dutiful. Yet, she became one of Jesus’ sermons! Imagine that. Jesus uses her as an example to teach people how to follow him. Can he do that with your life? Is your generosity a living example God can use to teach others?