“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 6:23

One night I was speaking to several hundred men gathered in a skid row mission for an evangelistic meeting. I had been invited to bring the address and as always my heart was deeply stirred when I realized that these men needed the Lord so very much. In the spiritual sense, though, their lot was no worse than the leaders of the city, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death whether one is rich or poor, old or young, sick or well. It makes no difference. The wages of sin is death.

In an effort to communicate to these men the love of God and His free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, I pulled a ten-dollar bill from my pocket and said, “The first person who comes to take this from my hand, can have it as a free gift.” This was my way of illustrating God’s gift of grace. Out of the hundreds of people seated before me, not a single person moved as I extended the bill, repeating several times, “The first one who will come and take this bill from my hand can have it.”

Finally, a middle-aged man, shabbily dressed like the rest, stood timidly to his feet and with an inquiring expression said, “Do you really mean it?” I said, “Sure, come and get it; it is yours.” He almost ran to grasp it and he thanked me. The rest of the crowd began mumbling, as if to say, “Why didn’t I have the faith to go and accept the gift?”

This gave me a marvelous opportunity to emphasize that we do not earn God’s love. He loves us unconditionally – not because of who we are, but because of who He is. God proved His love for us in that while we were all wretched sinners, He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for us and give to all men who will receive Him the gift of eternal life. Oh, what an attractive gift. Who could refuse to accept such a wonderful gift?

Bible Reading: Romans 6:17-22

Today’s Action Point: I will trust the Lord to help me make His offer of this marvelous free gift, the gift of His only begotten Son who is eternal life, so attractive that no one can refuse to accept it.

By Dr. Bill Bright
used be permission

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The post Free Gift can be found at Thoughts about God.

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so that there will be food enough in my Temple; if you do, I will open up the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing so great you won’t have room enough to take it in.“ Malachi 3:10

Tom and Marti were newlyweds. They were just getting started in business and had all the expense of setting up housekeeping. So they found their budget severely strained. In fact, the bills were piling up. Then they were challenged to tithe their gross income. Their first response was, “Impossible! We can’t even pay our present bills, let alone take 10 percent off the top.”

As they prayed together, however, they felt definitely led that this was God’s will. Since they wanted to please Him by obeying His command, they began systematically and faithfully to give priority to their tithe. At first, it was nip and tuck, and some of the other obligations had to wait. But after a few months they were amazed to see how they were able to accomplish more with the nine-tenths than they had previously been able to accomplish with the total amount.

Now they are enthusiastic over the privilege of laying up treasures in heaven, seeking first the kingdom of God. Tithing was only the beginning. Now they are giving 40 percent off the top because God has prospered them so abundantly.

I began to tithe as a new Christian when I was made aware of the scriptural principle that everything belongs to God and we are only stewards during our brief time here on earth. Actually a tithe is the Old Testament concept and according to the New Testament concept every believer has the privilege of laying up treasures in heaven far beyond the amount of the tithe. There is a law of sowing and reaping: The more you sow, the more you reap.

To the Christian, it is not how much we give to God; it is how much we have left after we have given to Him – and to His kingdom.

Bible Reading: Malachi 3:5-9

Today’s Action Point:

Today I will take inventory of my giving to the Lord. I will begin at least to tithe, expecting that God, as He promised Malachi, “will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing so great that I won’t have room enough to take it in.

by Dr. Bill Bright

Used by Permission

MORE:

The Generosity Habit
Try Tithing
Joyful Generosity

As the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, along with his wife, Vonette, Dr. Bright established one of the most successful evangelistic movements in the world – resulting in more than 4 billion exposures to the Gospel of Jesus Christ since 1951.

On July 19th, 2003 at the age of 81, Dr. Bill Bright went home to be with the Lord.

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The post A Blessing So Great can be found at Thoughts about God.