THURSDAY 12 JANUARY - LIVE SIMPLY AND GENEROUSLY

Read Matthew 3:13-17. It sometimes seems that the height of ambition in our society is to acquire as much as we can. To live a comfortable and enjoyable life, surrounded by our possessions and basking in our status.

That is not the life Jesus calls us to. He asks us instead to focus on a life of service and sacrifice to God. He asks us to deny what this world seems to offer us. He asks us to forego pleasure and the consumer goods the rest of the world values. Jesus teaches us to live simply and generously instead.

Jesus came to serve and to give to others. If we are not doing the same, then we are not following Jesus. Our faith compels us to offer our lives to God as living sacrifices and to serve him by serving others. It calls us to live simply and to give generously.

Perhaps your response might be to say you don’t have enough to be generous. But that’s when God calls us to sacrifice the most. Jesus came to the River Jordan with nothing. He began his ministry of living simply and generously with nothing. It’s easy to be generous when we have a lot to be generous with. But God calls us to be generous when we don’t have enough money, when we don’t have much time, and when our energy seems spent.

That’s radical obedience! Will you make that your ambition today?

THINK IT OVER

Think about the following:

In what ways are you generous with your money, time, and energy?