Blessed to be a what?

Hey my lovely readers!

I hate that I've been gone so much :( I keep thinking I'm going to start getting used to my schedule, but I'm not there yet :/ This is the first time in a year that I've been busy!

Work is still going good. Selling dresses and making brides happy can be quite exhausting though! 

Class is still going good. It's amazing how it's changed my perspective on a lot of things, especially how I read the Bible.

All of my volunteer ventures are going well. I made it back to Awanas for the first time in a few weeks and I was so glad to be back with those crazy 3 year olds, learning scriptures.

Anywayyy, I was super busy yesterday and wasn't able to post about my sermon notes...so here it goes!

The series that we are in right now is dealing with money. Yeah, I know...money in church may make you want to cringe. Maybe money in general makes you want to cringe. I'm extremely tight with my money, meaning that I try to save as much as I can. I'm very conscious of it, which I think my parents appreciate haha. It may sound like a good thing that I like to save, but on the other hand, it can be a little dangerous. I like to hold onto it so it makes it difficult when I need to spend money. I'm working on this though because it can be quite frustrating. I realize that money is only temporary. It's not going to heaven with me when I die. However, there are some ways that we can spend our money that will last for eternity. It may be donating money to buy Bibles for homeless or donating money for a mission trip or sponsoring a child while teaching them about the love of Christ. Things like this can last for eternity. 

The title of the sermon was "Money makes us wise...?"

We need to spend our money in a wise way. Not blowing it on things that pleasure us, but with an eternal perspective. Yes, we need to buy necessities like clothes, food, and the like, but we can spend the rest of our money wisely. 

1. "We should give intentionally." Maybe instead of getting Starbucks every morning, save your money by making your own coffee at home and give the rest of the money to your church or other ministry every month. 

2. "Practice justice and practice love." Pray for discernment in how you should spend your money and act in love.

3. "Bring the tithe...it's His (God's)" We should give 10% of our income to church. Of course, if you can, give more. It's an act of sacrifice when you are tight in terms of money, but still give 10% with a trusting heart that God will provide. What is ours, is God's first. He gave it to us. That job you have...is not your's, it's God's. He gave it to you. Give back to Him.

4. "Give what's decided in your heart. Not reluctantly. Not under compulsion." Don't give your money just because I'm blogging about it. It's fine if it motivates you, but don't give because you feel like someone is forcing you to. God knows your heart.

5. "Give with a cheerful heart." God loves a cheerful giver. If the cashier at the store asks if you'd like to donate to a worthy cause, don't huff and puff and say, "I guess so." You should feel privileged to be able to give back for an eternal cause.

Here are a few scriptures that should motivate us to be wise with our money...
1 Timothy 6:17-19 -  Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,  storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

Deuteronomy 16:17 - Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 -  Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;

In my Perspectives class, we have talked about blessings. God doesn't bless us with things, just for fun. He blesses us so we can bless others. We are blessed to be a blessing so that we will bring glory to God. If you have a job, you are blessed so that you can give back and be a blessing to others. If you have free time, you are blessed so you can spend time volunteering. God doesn't rain down blessings on us for us to just enjoy, but to share those blessings with others.

I usually end my posts with "Blessings", but I've decided that our focus shouldn't be on receiving blessings but being blessings to others. So I decided to change it up as a reminder for us :)