{"id":3917,"date":"2011-12-01T02:24:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T02:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=3917"},"modified":"2011-12-01T02:38:45","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T02:38:45","slug":"how-do-you-give","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=3917","title":{"rendered":"How do you give?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do you give? \u00a0As we prepare to find the perfect present for those we love, how are we entering into that special interaction with others? Do we give in hopes of getting something in return? \u00a0Do we give in hopes it will make up for past hurts or neglect? \u00a0I used to wear an wrist band that had WWJD on it, “What Would Jesus Do?” \u00a0In the area of giving what did Jesus do? \u00a0Well he did several things and we can learn how to give by following His examples:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. \u00a0He gave with out any expectation of what would be given in return.<\/span> \u00a0He didn’t say I’ll do this for you, if you will do that for me. \u00a0His deep love for us made it impossible for Him to give with strings attached.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. \u00a0He gave because that is what He really wanted to do. \u00a0He did not feel obligated to give.<\/span><\/span> \u00a0He didn’t feel pressure to give. \u00a0He didn’t worry about what others would think, \u00a0if He didn’t give. \u00a0He gave out of a full heart, overflowing with love and grace for us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. \u00a0 He didn’t give to us because we deserved it, or had earned it.<\/span> \u00a0He didn’t wait until we were better people before He gave.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. \u00a0 He gave to everyone.<\/span> \u00a0He did not select just the rich, or famous, or powerful, but he gave equally to all who sought Him; \u00a0rulers, kings slaves, the poor, and the rich. \u00a0Men and women, Jews and Gentiles. \u00a0He didn’t play favorites, no one was too bad or too good.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Very soon you will be presenting presents to those you love. \u00a0Do it in the spirit of the man whose birthday we celebrate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the pilgrim<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  How do you give? \u00a0As we prepare to find the perfect present for those we love, how are we entering into that special interaction with others? Do we give in hopes of getting something in return? \u00a0Do we give in hopes it will make up for past hurts or neglect? \u00a0I used to wear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3917"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3924,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917\/revisions\/3924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}