How Giving Makes You Joyful

Introduction

The Philippian Christians had learned the secret of joyful, liberal financial giving. The church in Philippi had taken up an offering to give to Paul, in prison because of his faith. Paul wrote back to the church and expressed his joy (see verse 10). Joy, or its derivative, occurs almost 20 times in this letter.

Have you discovered the joy of giving? Perhaps too many of us view giving as an occasion for grief or dread rather than an occasion for joy. In what ways can giving make you a joyful person?

1. Giving revives our concern (v. 10)

The word renewed in verse 10 pictures something that was dead now coming to life. The word sometimes is translated as revived. The word pictures a tree or plant that is barren in the winter, but when spring comes, the tree or plant blossoms with new shoots and flowers. The Philippian Christians had been barren in expressing their concern for Paul, but now, with the gift of money they sent him, they were blossoming anew with concern for Paul's welfare.

Giving takes the focus off ourselves and puts it onto someone or something else. Giving becomes a tangible way we can express concern and love to other people.

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What Is Holiness? How Can We Be Holy?

 Discover the meaning of holiness and what can be Holy looking to the Bible for reference and insight.

What Is Holiness?

Holiness is a word that can make us feel uneasy.  It seems lofty, threatening, alien.  We instinctively sense that God’s holiness has dangerous overtones. His purity calls our sinful attachments into question, demanding that we forsake them in order to enjoy the greatest of all goods—belonging to a God of infinite love and power. To come casually with our hearts grasping tightly to the sins we cherish or to come lightly as though they are no big deal, might be like throwing ourselves onto a roaring fire with the expectation we will not perish. How, then, can we—sinful and broken human beings—hope to come into the presence of a holy God and survive the experience?

When God was forging a relationship with the Israelites, he told Moses to "Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). God was calling his people into relationship with himself and he wanted his people not only to survive the experience but to be nourished by it. But for that to happen, they needed to know the ground rules, needed to come to him on his terms not theirs.

The Hebrew word for “holiness” is qōdes, a word that highlights the realm of the sacred in contrast to everything common and profane. The adjective qādôš, “holy,” refers to God and what belongs to him. In various places in the Hebrew Scriptures, God is called by the title the “Holy One of Israel.”

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