Our theme is the giving heart: a journey to radical love. Jesus, who was very poor, was incredibly giving and God, as we know, is love. Jesus called his disciples to radically love others. We can’t love others when we are into ourselves. Paul emphasized this when he said that we all once followed the prince of the power of the air. He said, “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, lie the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3).
Like the world who doesn’t know God, we carried out the desires of the body and mind–living for ourselves and not caring for others. But God. God had different plans: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (vs. 4-5). God calls us to repentance and showered us with his mercy and saved us by his grace. Not only this, but he “seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (vs. 6). We literally have a seat at the table with God through Christ!
Paul is crystal clear that this is not of our own doing. Our salvation by grace through faith is the gift of God. We were created for good works but those works are not what save us. We do good works because we are saved. This is what sets us apart from the world. We should work every day to outpace the world in our giving. Our good works matter to others and they matter to God.