Freely You Have Received, Freely Give

 

I suspect most of you have had the experience of reading something in the Bible or elsewhere and having it suddenly strike you, even though you’ve read it many times before. I was reading the Gospel of Matthew earlier this week when I came to where Jesus was giving instructions to His apostles before sending them out. He told them, “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). It made me stop and think about whether I’m following these instructions as well as I should.

 

Everything we have comes from the grace and love of God. Our salvation has been won for us. All that we have, and our very life itself, is a gift from God. We have no way of repaying God for all He has done for us. All we can do is freely receive His gifts. We are called in turn to give to others freely, remembering that, when we do so, we are in essence giving back to God. We should be generous in sharing our material resources. Even more important is to give of ourselves. When we give of ourselves, we bring God to the recipient, because we are created in His image. I can think of several people reading this today who exemplify this on a daily basis. I encourage you to continue in your ways. You are an example to me of Jesus’ teaching, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Mathew 5:16).

 

There is another aspect to Jesus’ instructions. His apostles were spreading the Good News and Jesus expected that they would have whatever they needed. We have a responsibility to support those who minister to us today.  We should support them financially, spiritually, and in every other way, so that they might be able to say that they have “freely received” all that they need.

 

Let’s reflect this week on all that we’ve been given and how we may share with those around us.

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The individual posts in this blog have been collected into a book, Reflections From the Basic Truths Blog.  It is available for free as an ebook through Barnes and Noble, https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/reflections-from-the-basic-truths-blog-james-yarmchuk/1147055811?ean=2940181202702, Apple Books, and multiple other book websites. It is available for a minimal charge on Amazon and can also be purchased as a paperback through them.