Friday Devotional:

Psalm 27:1, 4-9



The counterintuitive "open secret" that generous people know is that sacrifice is accompanied by great joy. " Giving until it hurts" usually "hurts so good": the reward is greater, and lasts longer, than any pinch of pain.

Have you ever stretched your budget or time or energy beyond what you thought you could afford? Why did you do that? There's a good chance it had to do with love, which is the steep and scenic pathway to great joy.

The psalmist offers sacrifices in God's tent. Why is God in a tent instead of a temple? This offended King David, but God did not want a fancy house. God is happier making sacrifices for us, camping in the wilderness to be with God's refugee people. Later, as the Greek in John's gospel puts it, God "became flesh and tented among us" (John 1:14). Jesus is God's new way of being with us, God's extravagant sacrifice to achieve reconciliation with humanity, which brings God great joy. When we respond to God's generosity with our own, we experience joy too.

Generous God, open my heart and hands in generosity until I taste great joy. Amen.



An excerpt from Christ in our Home

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