Friday, June 13, 2008

Am I Able to Give?

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you; leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
(Matthew 5:23-24)


You can’t give God anything if you harbor bitterness, envy, and ill-will in your heart. You cannot offer any service to the Lord, if you are holding onto a grudge. This does not mean that God cannot ever use you. He has given us the opportunity to go back and make amends with that person that wronged us or used us and then we are able to bless God. God doesn’t bless mess and he cannot be blessed by mess. As children of God, we naturally want to please our father. Although, it pleases the Lord for us to be of service to him and those that he has placed over us, he is more concerned with our inner-self. God is more concerned with our hearts than He is with how we may look to others or how happy our gifts make others feel. We must always give with a clear conscience.



What does this mean to us? That means that if we really want to bless God and be of service to the body of Christ, we need to make peace with our sisters and brothers. How can we love God whom we have never seen yet walk past our brother and sister everyday whom we do see and never speak to them? Does that make sense? No, it doesn’t. What does make sense is that the alter is a place of sacrifice. We are instructed to leave our gift in front of the alter because we need to sacrifice our will and our attitudes and forgive those who we have issues with so that we are able to go back and get our gift and give it to God. So before we offer up any gift to God, we must ask ourselves. Am I truly able to give?


Shanita Waters
Author of By His Stripes We Are Healed
www.waterplantgrowth.com

6 comments:

Joyfulsister said...

Aloha Shanita.. I found my way here through Latonya's blog, I saw your comment about waiting, and what each letter of that word stood for, I wanted to say Thank you I needed that and I wrote it down to put in my bible. I also enjoyed this post what an awesome reminder to us all to give the best gift of alland that is the gift of forgiveness, and making amends. Blessings Lorie

Keith said...

Hi Shanita,

I just wanted to let you know that I put a link for your blog on my blog look under Blogs of Interest on my sidebar).

If you would like to do the same for me, the name of my blog is Keith's Space and the URL is http://ariesrules.blogspot.com

Thanks,

Keith

Shanita Waters said...

Hi Bro. Keith!

Thanks for the link. Ofcourse, I'll link your page to mine. Stay blessed.

Shanita
www.waterplantgrowth.com

ZACK said...

Sis. Shanita,

Thanks so much for your kind and profound words. I really appreciate the feedback.

Since I need more sistas on my blog roll, you know that you are getting added. Plus, I love your spiritual messages.

Shanita Waters said...

Thanks... I'll add you as well. I like to read a lot of different things.

Also, feel free to click on the book cover on my page and read part of my debut novel for free.

GOD'S LADIE said...

All I can say is "Hallelujah" with my hands lifted up in praise!!! Surely, you brought forth the word on forgiveness in such a unique way.
Blessings!
LaTonya