But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Psalms86:15
The Fifth of the Spiritual Laws is "Service" ("Giving yourself to Others")
Selwyn Hughes describes his own journey into a new paradigm - a "Spiritual Revolution." It all began when he was reading a theological book on the Trinity by DB Knox.
These two sentences grabbed his attention:
"We learn from the Trinity that relationship is the essence of reality and therefore the essence of our existence, and we also learn that the way this relationship should be expressed is by concern for others. Within the Trinity itself there is a concern by the persons of the Trinity for one another."
The nature of God is to share, care, and give.
Granville Morgan, the much-loved Welsh Minister who served at St Columbas Presby Church in Parkview for many years, once said:
"God's favourite word is AND. He made trees _and_ flowers, elephants _and_ kangeroos, planets _and_ stars, you _and_ me."
All the bounty of creation is testimony of God's extraordinary and extravagant (in the best sense of the word) generosity.
Created in His image, we reach our fullest created potential when we are generous and serve others. Being loved by God and created in His image, we are impelled to serve others and all the more so when we are confronted by the staggering example of Christ's earthly life of generosity and sacrifice, succinctly wrapped up in his own mission statement "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)
We give and share because that's what God does!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
