God Loves / God Gives

“God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…”

That’s that best known verse in the entire bible. In just a few words it contains the very essence of who God really is.

God loves…

The bible tells us that God is love. Period. God doesn’t just love. He is love personified. He is love in action. He became Love in the flesh. Love in word. Love in deed. A friend of mine used to put it this way, “Love has arms.”

God’s giving always comes from a place of God’s loving. God loves. God gives.

Furthermore John 3:16 says that God gives the world His only begotten son. It’s essential in understanding the true nature of this God to know that the word here is the Greek word cosmos. The word Cosmos literally means “world system.” It’s what Christians refer to when they use the term “worldly,” as in , “she is just so worldly…”

Paul tells us that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The point I am making is simply this. Christ gave His life for us before we ever did one right thing. He gave everything He had and everything He could while we where still in our worst possible state. He had absolutely no guaranty any of us would respond favorably to His great gift.

The nature of God’s generous giving is rooted therefore in non judgmental giving. People generally give in a strategic manner. They give money, time and resources while ultimately hoping to receive something in return. It could be favor, power, influence, promotion, affection or any number of other things.

God “sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Jesus says in Mtt5:46, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?”

There is an amazing parable in Mark’s gospel about a farmer who goes about sowing seed. Some lands along the path, and some on rocky places and others ends up in shallow soil and among weeds. It is an amazing picture of a God who is so generous that He appears to be utterly wasteful. He just throws out His valuable seed without a thought as to whether or not He will get anything in return. He sends His rain on people who ignore Him...People who curse Him.

That’s generosity. It’s the crazy giving without thought of what will come back to you. It’s not calculated. It’s not strategic. It’s the practice of reckless discipleship. It's letting other people win. It's not insisting that you are right. It's letting someone pull in front of you and then not being upset as they drive ten miles below the speed limit. It's giving in secret...not telling anyone what you've done. It's giving someone else the best place and the best portion, going the extra mile and giving more than is asked of you.
It’s the daily practicing of being changed into the image of the One who continues to give Life to all who ask. Free and without strings and conditions.

God loves and God gives.

Without conditions.

The Generosity Experiment Part 1

Imagine for a moment that someone gave you everything...everything they had. Now imagine this person is God. That is exactly what has happened. The God who made all things and who "upholds the entire universe by the power of His word," has chosen to make you the recipient of His divine generosity!

Wow....Amazing! The bible says that "He who gave His very own Son ,will He not with Him freely give us all things." The Greek word translated all things has a very special meaning in this context. It literally means all things...everything...holding nothing back...no, not one single thing. This is truly amazing. God has decided to give us everything and now He is going to wait and see what we do with it.

Think about it. God took six days to create the heavens and the earth and a world that was just right for the people which He proceeded to create in His own image. Everything had to be absolutely perfect, the air, the water, plants and the way they grow, animals...everything. Once everything was in place God formed Adam and then set him in a garden... not in a city, not in a factory, not in a desert...but a garden. Inside the garden God had planted every kind of tree that was good for food. He then took his man Adam on a guided tour and told him he was free to go out and eat..and then He gave him a fun job. He told him to go name all the animals and eventually He put him in charge of the whole deal.

A little bit later God gave him a woman. She was the most beautiful woman in the world and the bible says (I'm not making this stuff up) she was naked.

Wow!

Somebody help me!

What kind of God is this?