Jean-Luc Lézeau, Associate Director, General Conference Stewardship Ministries
Summary: Is it possible that we can offer too much love when it comes to our response to God and His great gifts to us? Jean-Luc Lézeau discusses God’s focus on loving and giving and our response to Him.
For God so loved . . . He gave. These two verbs are crucially important: to love is to give. You cannot love without giving. When God gives, it is out of love. When He created
When God gave Adam the breath of life, it was out of love. It was this same love that—even before the creation of this world—led Him to conceive the plan of salvation with Christ at its center.
We cannot claim to be Christians, to love God, and be self-centered. A stingy Christian is an oxymoron. But isn’t this the dichotomy that we face in our daily living? This is why money is mentioned more often in the Bible than prayer! Material possessions are in such competition with God that Jesus discusses this topic in two-thirds of His parables.
When God declared the tithe to be holy, His plan was not to fund the church with it. The plan was for us to acknowledge Him as Creator of all, recognizing our total dependency upon Him. To return tithe and bring offerings are a part of worship and an act of love toward Him. ?Where love is concerned,? says Baumarchais, ?too much is not even enough.?
As we contemplate this important topic, I pray that as you give, it is not only with a heart filled with love, but with the clear conviction that the Holy Spirit has guided you.
