The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Corinthians 9:7,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
"Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
Over the years as a believer in Jesus Christ I have viewed God from differing perspectives, as I suspect most all of us have. He has been an authoritarian taskmaster, a mysterious divine mystic hard to understand, my divine "daddy" (you know, the "Abba" thing…) a loving friend and guide, the "doctor of life" with all the principles of how to live life successfully, and in more recent years a transcendent God of majestic splendor, pregnant with perfections of character that radiate his glory: someone to worship, adore and stand in fear, reverence and awe of.
So, I think this morning, what is God really like? Which is the real God? I suspect all of what I have seen in him over the years I've known him and much more as well. As I mature and change I see more of him and see him in differing ways. I'm sure anyone who reads this can attest to aspects they know of God, things they see in him that I have not yet, and can add to my list above. Our God is a big God and has many wonderful aspects to him that causes us to see him in a different light from time to time.
What catches my eye this morning is an aspect of God's nature that I find really fascinating, "God loves a cheerful giver." This just fascinates me, and in my limited understanding of him helps me to perceive him in a certain way. What we give God is an expression of worship and God loves a "cheerful giver". He loves us all as we know from John 3:16, but in our interactions with God, it is when we are cheerful is when he loves what we are doing for him. In Romans 12:1 we read that when we live our lives in a way that is pleasing to him it is a "spiritual act of worship". Paul goes on from that verse and tells us to be humble, honoring others above ourselves, to serve one another with the gifts God has given us, to love one another and to hate evil, etc. All these when done cheerfully must delight the heart of God.
From our verse this morning, I see that God loves it when our expressions to him come from a cheerful and happy heart. I think any parent can identify with God's perspective here. How much sweeter it is when our children do the things we ask of them – and they respond in a happy, cheerful way rather than in a begrudgingly reluctant obedience. Our cheerfulness communicates something special in our hearts and from my perspective I sense it delights God when we find our delight in him.
"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4.
Over the years as a believer in Jesus Christ I have viewed God from differing perspectives, as I suspect most all of us have. He has been an authoritarian taskmaster, a mysterious divine mystic hard to understand, my divine "daddy" (you know, the "Abba" thing…) a loving friend and guide, the "doctor of life" with all the principles of how to live life successfully, and in more recent years a transcendent God of majestic splendor, pregnant with perfections of character that radiate his glory: someone to worship, adore and stand in fear, reverence and awe of.
So, I think this morning, what is God really like? Which is the real God? I suspect all of what I have seen in him over the years I've known him and much more as well. As I mature and change I see more of him and see him in differing ways. I'm sure anyone who reads this can attest to aspects they know of God, things they see in him that I have not yet, and can add to my list above. Our God is a big God and has many wonderful aspects to him that causes us to see him in a different light from time to time.
What catches my eye this morning is an aspect of God's nature that I find really fascinating, "God loves a cheerful giver." This just fascinates me, and in my limited understanding of him helps me to perceive him in a certain way. What we give God is an expression of worship and God loves a "cheerful giver". He loves us all as we know from John 3:16, but in our interactions with God, it is when we are cheerful is when he loves what we are doing for him. In Romans 12:1 we read that when we live our lives in a way that is pleasing to him it is a "spiritual act of worship". Paul goes on from that verse and tells us to be humble, honoring others above ourselves, to serve one another with the gifts God has given us, to love one another and to hate evil, etc. All these when done cheerfully must delight the heart of God.
From our verse this morning, I see that God loves it when our expressions to him come from a cheerful and happy heart. I think any parent can identify with God's perspective here. How much sweeter it is when our children do the things we ask of them – and they respond in a happy, cheerful way rather than in a begrudgingly reluctant obedience. Our cheerfulness communicates something special in our hearts and from my perspective I sense it delights God when we find our delight in him.
"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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