Hilarious

Who then will offer willingly, consecrating themselves today to the Lord?

✙ 1 Chronicles 29:5

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When we offer ourselves or our possessions to God—or for the sake of God's work in the world—freely and without compunction, God is overjoyed. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that God loves a cheerful giver. And in Greek, the word used for love, of course, means divine love, unconditional love, the kind of love that asks for nothing in return. What other kind of love would God give?

But the Greek word for cheerful—that one's really interesting. It's the term that gives English its word hilarious. Thinking about giving in this way is actually helpful. No, I'm not saying that self-offering is funny or that it is something to be made light of. But when I dwell on the word hilarious, I'm reminded of something that requires no scheming or self-consciousness. When something's hilarious, we can't help but react. 

That's how giving is supposed to be in God's kindom. It's a reflex. We don't give in order to get anything in return. We don't give in order to look good in others' eyes. We simply give because that's what it means to be a child of God.
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Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

✙ 2 Corinthians 9:7

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Prayer after thinking about today's devotion:

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I am yours, O God, and all I have comes from you. Help me to give of myself just as you have given to me: willingly and lovingly, that others might see that you are alive and active in the world.

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After your own thanksgivings & petitions, close with the Lord's Prayer.

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