Thanks to Elen Saleh of St. Nicholas in LA for sharing the following thoughts with us on Giving, Forgiving, and Thanksgiving...
GIVING, FORGIVING AND THANKSGIVING
THESE ARE THREE KEY WORDS IN OUR CHRISTIAN DAILY VOCABULARY,
THE THREAD OF LOVE GOES THROUGH THEM ALL.
1. GIVING:
We can give without love but such loveless giving has no value in the sight of God. The Bible says, "If I give away all that I have, but have not love I gain nothing" (1 Cor.13.3). It is only when we give because we love that our gift is pleasing and acceptable to God. Our weekly offering to God is first and foremost an offering of love.
If you do love God, let your giving be some indication of the measure of love. Christian giving asks us to put God first and to let our giving be an expression of God's importance in our lives.
We give to the poor also because we love them and pity them. If we loved them, then we will practice our love. Not in words, but in action. St. John says, "Let us not love in words or in tongue, but in deed and in truth". (1 Jn.318)
2. FORGIVING:
God loved us and therefore, He forgave our sins. St Paul says, "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." (Col. 3:12, 13).
The only comment the Lord Jesus made on the Lord's Prayer was this, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, Your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matt. 6:14).
In Matthew 18, when St. Peter asked our Lord, "How often shall my brother
sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? "Jesus said to him, "I
do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."
3. THANKSGIVING:
The word, thanksgiving, contains giving as a part of its ingredients. It means giving thanks to God or to people. The fathers of the church said, "There is no gift without increase, except the gift that without thanksgiving. "Thanksgiving shows our gratitude and gratefulness to God. But again we can't give God thanks by words alone, but rather by our actual service, love, and doing His will with pleasure and enthusiasm.
Elen Saleh
