Heart Disease
Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at 9:17PM 
Lately, I've been having a really hard time with my heart and attitude towards generosity. This past Sunday, our pastor talked about giving.
He said that we give because we are a people of faith. Wait. Faith...is part of the trust family. Remember how the word I'm focusing on this year is trust? I immediately realized why I was experiencing the inner turmoil: faith and trust go hand-in-hand.
Faith frees us. God blesses us as we give, not because we give (2 Corinthians 8).
Discontentment, legalism and materialism cannot result in generosity. These things had all crept in to my heart. Over time, I became increasingly tight-fisted with giving to my church. I thought other organizations had a better bang-for-my-buck and seemed like better causes. The truth is, I wanted to control where my money was going. Yet the reality is, God has given me everything, nothing is actually mine.
When I realized this, I felt free. The disease that had started to eat away at my heart was repaired with a few words and prayer.
Maybe you feel the same way I did? That's why I'm sharing what happened to me.
A question he asked that caused me to pause and think, is what I'll leave you with:
"How do you view money and what hold does it have on your heart?"
Linking up with Amanda for:
*You can listen to Rick's message at capitalcitychurch.net
Reader Comments (4)
My husband has always been very generous about giving and I admit, there was a time that it bothered me. I'd be thinking... why do you keep giving our money away to anyone on the street?! But God has really done some work to help me grow in that area. I've been learning to "hold everything with an open hand". Thank God for His grace!!
Thanks so much for linking up! This is definitely inspiring and motivating!!
I couldn't agree more, Stacy! I love the grace God continuously gives us. Glad to hear you have a supportive teammate as a spouse. And thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. Holding things with an open hand is a perfect example of generosity.
Thank you for hosting such a thought-provoking link-up, Amanda!