dec 18

1 Timothy 6:17-19
17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.
19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

The phone rang late one night after the man, his wife, and their three small children had already gone to bed. The man rolled over, stretched an arm out of the tangle of sheets, snatched the phone receiver out of the cradle, and said a groggy hello. It was an old friend calling from several time zones away. "I'm sorry for calling so late, old buddy, but I just had to give you something." "Give me something?" The man lifted himself up on his elbows and sat back against the headboard of his bed. His wife sat up and turned on the light. "Yes!" the caller explained. "Back when I was in college, I promised myself and God, I guess-that I would give something away every single day of my life." The man in the bed was awake now. "You what?" "It's not always a big deal," the caller said. "Sometimes I give a quarter to a kid who lost his money in a candy machine, or I give a book I've enjoyed to someone I think will like it. But for the past fifteen years, I don't think I've missed a single day." "You've given something away every day for the last fifteen years?" "Yup! But I haven't given anything away yet today, so I thought I'd call you." "What are you going to give me over the phone?" "Well, old buddy, it may not be much, but it's something." The caller then read a short poem, explaining the godly influence his distant friend had had on him. When he stopped reading, silence hung between the two men. "Thanks," his friend finally answered. His voice quivered with emotion. "That's the best gift I've been given in a long time." Imagine giving something away every day for fifteen years! That's pretty cool, isn't it? You know what's even more amazing? That story is true. When you hear about such people, does that kind of generosity fill you with respect and admiration? Of course it does, because you know, deep within your heart, that generosity is good. You're naturally drawn to people who are generous and repelled by people who are stingy or greedy. It may not be easy to be generous, of course. It's part of our sinful nature to want to hang on to what we have. That tendency can be tough to overcome. But though it may not always be easy, it is good to be generous, especially to those in need.

REFLECT: If you were charged with the "crime" of being generous, would there be enough evidence to convict you? How can you add to the evidence?

ACT: Give something away today. You could give away a smile, a pat on the back, a helping hand, etc.

PRAY: "God, I know someone who needs... Show me what I can share."

I don't find it especially hard to give things away freely, but I could hardly consider myself a generous person. My giving doesn't necessarily mean that I'll come and track you down to get back what is mine, but I give knowing that I'll get something back one day, a karma-based ideology. But I know that to be truly generous, I should be giving simply for giving's sake. Just like we are called to be generous with love, we should learn to be generous in nature. We should be giving without the expectation that we will get something back, and though that sort of completes my ideology, our focus should always be on giving rather than receiving.

Giving is just a characteristic one can have... its not generous if you give only with stuff and not with your heart. As of right now... i dont think there would be enough evidence for me to be charged with being too generous. I give with my hands but most of the time, i dont give with my heart... which is my biggest problem. We all have a hard time giving things up that benefit others and not you... but those are what make us stronger and more generous to others. That is a step closer to living Gods way and how he works in us. He just gives gives gives... never with his hands... always with the heart. Thats why its so much more important in our lifes rather than receiving an actual gift..
Dont be generous with the amoount of stuff you give... but be generous with the amount of stuff you can provide that they will cherish.

I have to study for my two final unit tests tomorrow before the winter break!
So I'll post tomorrow!

Whoo! I did it. My geography!

Ok, so I'm pretty sure this reading was focused alot about how we have to really invest in spiritual riches instead of financial riches. Even if we are rich financially, we could channel what we have into our own spiritual richness. In the second verse, it says something along those lines, and I think that it really motivates everybody. For those who have nothing, they have nothing to lose, and for those who have something to give, they still have something to gain.

I think the underlining difference between investing in God and investing in other things; is the duration of how effective both investments last.

sorry I'm posting this today, my computer said there was an error sending it....

be generous and open just like how god is for us.
Always give with an open heart. Think about how much Jesus gave up for us.
Never stop being generous. It's sometimes hard to give things but understand the people arround you and do all that you can do for someone. See them the way god sees them and love them.
As you give away, you can recieve back so much. People's respect and love towards one another is priceless.

Being generous is a very good quality to have. However I think when people start taking advantage of your generosity, that's a problem.
Let's say you have this friend who has been borrowing $15 from you everyday, but they have yet to pay you back. It's been almost a month, but since you're generous you decide not to ask for the money. Then you find out, that they've been using that $15 everyday to buy weed. Obviously, they are misusing your gift, and taking advantage of your kindness.

That's actually a true story. It happened to a friend of mine.

So my point is, watch out who you are being generous to! Especially if what you are sharing is a materialistic item.

18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.
being rich doesnt nessescarily mean that your rich in money. You can be rich in many different ways. such as generousity. im pretty sure there is no such thing as having to much generousity.
Idk if all of us could give something away with noo second thought. im pretty sure if we were to give somethign away important to us, we would atleast have ot think about it.

19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.
i liked this. having your treasures on earth, will not stay with you, so its better to have treaures up in heaven. its better to give what you have here so that you have a more treasures up in heaven

all i got gnite

so sorry for posting extremely late...i have been catching up to homework and final assignments, on top of that i had a blackout on the day i planned on posting -.- just my luck, eh?
anyways, giving is actually kind of hard for me. i used to freely give things away without feeling anything really negative after, but i have experienced many incidents when people used what i gave them for the bad or used it against me. i should try to change that heart that i have right now because God has given me so much and He gave us many chances when we let him down. generosity is a trait that is rather hard to perfect because we always have some sort of negative feelings of doubt that hold us back from being kind to others. we should all try to change that mind and try to keep our heart pure for God at all times.

Rarely do we give something to someone that needs it, when we want it
We're so hesitant to give things even though we know, deep down that someone else may need the materialistic things we own more than us
We shouldn't be so consumed in the materialistic things of this world and look to the bigger picture
Look at the things that matter when we leave this place, because we won't be here forever.