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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

God's Pledge of Faithfulness Deserves Our Faithfulness in Return

God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

God's Pledge of Faithfulness Deserves
Our Faithfulness in Return
By Austin Pryor
Sound Mind Investing

Your Father in heaven is committed to you! When you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, it's as if God said:

"My child, I'm going to love you with an everlasting love. I'll constantly be watching over you, and will certainly be sure to provide for your needs. I'll guide your steps through life, and offer you my advice so you can make good decisions.

"As you depend on me, I'll give you strength to endure difficult times. I'll always be listening for you, so you can pray to me whenever you want and I'll hear you. I'll answer your prayers like a loving parent — granting what is good and helpful, and withholding when I have something better.

"I'm going to give you spiritually useful abilities so your life will be productive and purposeful and filled with beautiful moments. And I'm preparing a wonderful place for you in eternity — I have some great plans for our times together!

"You are precious to me, so you can trust my love for you is genuine, and deep, and permanent. I'll never grow tired of you, never abandon you, and never be unfaithful to my promises. Never. In this special relationship of ours, I'll always be true to you. And I want you to always be true to me."

That's reasonable, isn't it? That we would always be true to Him? As Paul asks in Romans 12:1, "When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask?"(Living Bible). No, it's not too much to ask.

But we aren't always faithful, are we? To our regret, we have divided affections. We love the Lord, but we also — to varying degrees — love the world. Christians in America are among the top 1% of wealthy people in the history of the world, and we spend almost all of it on ourselves. Surely our self-centeredness and indifference to the people and purposes on God's heart must grieve Him.

It was interesting to me that when, several years ago, we offered John Piper's When I Don't Desire God as a Christmas gift to our Sound Mind Investing readers, we received about twice as many requests as usual. Why this high level of interest? I believe it's because most of us sense that we don't desire God as we should, as He deserves, but we'd like to. For that to happen, as Piper says, "God would have to transform [our hearts] to do what a heart cannot make itself do, namely, want what it ought to want."


We should, therefore, pray. And give God permission to do whatever is needed in our lives to work a change in our hearts so that, more than the things of this life, we want more of Him.

The Westminster Catechism defines prayer as "an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to His will..." What we pray for reveals our desires. If we desire for God to get all the glory possible from our lives, we should pray, among other things, that He make us cheerfully generous people.

As you give more generously, you more fully reflect God's life in you, for God is a giver. You make God happy (2 Corinthians 9:7-8). You testify to His sovereignty in your life and ownership of all that is yours to control (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). You reflect where your treasure is (Matthew 6:19-21). You show your complete trust in Him to supply for your needs (Philippians 4:17-19). You ensure greater spiritual usefulness (Luke 16:11-12). You reap eternal benefits (1 Timothy 6:18-19). And, most importantly, you magnify His glory (2 Corinthians 9:13).

If you're already giving generously, you have my respect and appreciation. If not, I'm trying to encourage you to move decisively in that direction. Under His Spirit's direction, you can increasingly become the kind of cheerful and grateful giver that delights His heart. He's always been faithful to you. By your generosity, you can be increasingly true to Him.

It's not difficult to lay aside earthly wealth when you have God as your treasure. May our prayer be that of the Psalmist:

"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you.... Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live.... My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me." (Psalm 63:1,3,8)

July 29, 2009

© Sound Mind Investing

Published since 1990, Sound Mind Investing is America's best-selling financial newsletter written from a biblical perspective.Visit the Sound Mind Investing website .

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Take care until…......and God Bless ya
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Are you ready to face eternity? If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of your life and desire to make that commitment now please repeat the following prayer:

Lord Jesus be merciful to me a sinner. I realize that I have sinned against you and come short of your glory. I confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and I believe in my heart that God has raised him from the dead. I pray for your forgiveness and ask that you save me now and accept me into your kingdom. Give me eternal life today.
In Jesus Name, Amen.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting our article on your site. If you're a print subscriber or web member, we have a referral program for bloggers in which you can receive 2 free months of print or web for each new member you refer. If interested, contact customerservice@soundmindinvesting.com

    Sorry to do this as a comment but could find no email.

    ~ Matthew
    Director of Operations

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to be of some help Matthew. i think it is beneficial for us to share one another's gift with the world.

    ReplyDelete