....serving

 “And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

— Acts 20:35

When you were a kid and your birthday or Christmas was approaching, you mostly thought about the gifts you would get. But as you got older, you started thinking less about what you would get and more about what you would give.Your outlook changes because you mature. And you discover there is joy in giving.

In the same way, when we first become Christians, we want all that God had for us, and so we should. We go to church to learn, to take in, and that is great.

But as the years pass, we realize that God wants to work through us as well. As a result, we want to give more than receive. Of course, we must always take in before we can give out. But at the same time, we discover the joy of giving, the joy of serving.

The beautiful fringe benefit is that when we give, the Lord gives back to us. Jesus said, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back” Luke 6:38.

Why not commit yourself afresh to this blessed responsibility and privilege?

Have you lived your life well so far? Or are you squandering it in an elusive search for happiness and forgetting God in the process? Instead of finding happiness, maybe you’re finding misery. That’s because we find true happiness in knowing God through Jesus Christ. We don’t find it in anything on this earth.

We will find the true happiness that we seek in a relationship with God. The happy life is the life with God. So don’t settle for some cheap imitation this world offers. Pursue the real thing.

- greg laurie