NCarolinian

From birth, all of us are about ourselves. Being considerate, sharing, giving, loving and bringing are not automatic qualities within us, we have to be taught them and practice them regularly. However, even when we have mastered the head knowledge on what these terms mean and seen them in action, our part in living them out can be another story. Today I would like to challenge us, me included, to not only develop our giving and bringing skills, but incorporate these so much  into our lives that we continually become better givers and bringers.  In Scripture, there is a difference between these two, givers and bringers, but both come with blessings as encouragements to adopt these qualities as lifestyles or at least part of your lifestyle. Giving many times has the expectation of receiving a return either voluntarily or directly. There are instances of unconditional giving also and those are the highest forms of giving to pursue.  An example of what I am calling voluntary ...

        Be careful how much focus you place on your  skills, talents and gifts in life. The Blesser is always going to be greater than the blessing. James reminds us that - " Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17)            This flow-perspective is a mindset Christians must have in order to cultivate the kind of Christ-like character that needs to be displayed daily in each believer through the Fruits of the Spirit. In other words, if we acknowledge The Blesser and where our blessings come from, keeping a thankful and grateful heart for all our blessings, then the remaining Fruits of the Spirit have a wonderful chance to develop and shine for God.          The reverse of this thinking is a shift of focus away from The Blesser onto the accumulation of gifts and/or quality of gift(s) to the po...