The verse highlighted in this article is from Section II of our Investing Challenge.

“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
~Hebrews 13:15

What we do out of love for Christ with no motive for personal gain often has the greatest unexpected rewards. There have been many times that God has put someone in my path that I sensed He put there so that I could share with them. The best experiences were when I obeyed God’s prompting and cheerfully shared some of my life and what God has done even when I didn’t understand how God would use it in their life. It’s amazing what God does with your sacrifice of praise! He takes it and encourages others to keep loving and trusting Him, and it’s all-around blessing for the giver and receiver.

I like how Hebrews 13 talks about the grace of Christ being the only good ground for life. Have you ever tried to trick yourself into doing something for the right reasons and yet you still had in the back of your mind what you wanted to get out of it? How do you keep your focus on living out of love for our Redeemer? How is it that we get stingy and don’t want to share when God has already given us so much? Why do we only want to share when there’s something in it for us? It’s so easy to lose our focus and become selfish. We complicate things for ourselves when we don’t just believe that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do. Mostly we get messed up in our thoughts and make things more difficult than they ought to be when we don’t just trust God and take Him at His Word. Once I heard a preacher say that the godfather of noise in our souls is pride. Wow, if that isn’t convicting?! And another recent favorite quote from Anne Voskamp that ties right into these thoughts is; “Simplicity doesn’t mean we will live uncomplicated lives. Simplicity is a matter of Focus – the grace to focus our lives simply on Christ.”

God takes pleasure in acts of worship. When you communicate and share of His love you are lifting up His name. Don’t get lazy – share what you have with others.Your sacrifice (of sharing) is an investment in God’s Kingdom. You won’t regret it!

“But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
~Hebrews 13:16

~ Tosha P.