The Season of Giving (Friday Devotional)

 

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

- 2 Corinthians 9:15

Black Friday. Small Business Saturday. Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday. At this time of year, it seems like we’re being asked on a daily basis to buy something, support something, or donate something. It is, after all, the season of giving.

But as you purchase presents and plan parties and make end-of-year offerings to your favorite charity, it’s important to reflect upon why this is a time for giving. It’s not because it’s a social obligation or because the calendar dictates you do so. We give because so much has been given to us.

It’s during Advent—the season beginning this Sunday that prepares us for Christmas—that we reflect upon the hope, peace, joy, and love that God ensured for us by sending his Son to this world. This world was corrupted by the sin that humanity introduced into it; eternal life with the holy God was a distant dream forbidden by our wickedness.

But God so loved the world that he gave his only Son (John 3:16). Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a slave, assuming human likeness (Philippians 2:7). The Word became flesh and lived among us (John 1:14). Not because we earned his favor, not because we deserved his love, but as an act of divine grace, God gave us the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ his Son.

As recipients of that grace, we are now given the sacred responsibility of being witnesses to it and ambassadors for Christ. Every day you have the opportunity to love your neighbor, to serve your community, to make this fallen world a better, more redemptive place. Every day you can honor the one who has given you everything by giving to others.

So whether it’s Black Friday or Cyber Monday or What Now Wednesday, take the time to give some grace. You have received it in abundance from God—now’s your chance to share the wealth.