Love loves to give
“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing. Deuteronomy 24:19-22
These rules are firmly embedded in two religious considerations. One, gratitude to God for past mercies; the other, expectation of favors to come.
Gratitude to God requires that we act the godly part to others in need, such as we were when he aided us. We have to be "God" to others in the sense that he has chosen human service as the general means whereby he makes himself known to people in providential and evangelistic grace. The Word must become flesh.
The expectation of divine favors to come must rest on some obligation. However free and unconditional divine grace may be, it does not continue lavishing itself for ever on the unresponsive. Grace must beget grace. The only hope that blessing will continue (verse 19c: that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands) is that the grace which sought and found us will flood our hearts and then pour itself out to others in their need.
The command, therefore, is that love received and enjoyed must be passed on to others--not only in deeds, but in self-giving. Love loves to give.
Through the Year with William Still, February 23
These rules are firmly embedded in two religious considerations. One, gratitude to God for past mercies; the other, expectation of favors to come.
Gratitude to God requires that we act the godly part to others in need, such as we were when he aided us. We have to be "God" to others in the sense that he has chosen human service as the general means whereby he makes himself known to people in providential and evangelistic grace. The Word must become flesh.
The expectation of divine favors to come must rest on some obligation. However free and unconditional divine grace may be, it does not continue lavishing itself for ever on the unresponsive. Grace must beget grace. The only hope that blessing will continue (verse 19c: that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands) is that the grace which sought and found us will flood our hearts and then pour itself out to others in their need.
The command, therefore, is that love received and enjoyed must be passed on to others--not only in deeds, but in self-giving. Love loves to give.
Through the Year with William Still, February 23
posted by Compleat Mom at 7:56 AM
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