Offering your time to others. What does that look like? Do you have specific ways of doing this? Have you sat with someone or at least offered your time but didn’t know how impactful that was?
You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 2 Corinthians 9:7
This scripture is most likely talking about monies, and I don’t want to misrepresent that but since I wanted to cover giving of time, I am using the how much to give in that sense. We can often sign up and volunteer for many things in and out of the church, but we need to make sure whatever we are giving we do cheerfully and for the Lord.
We also need to make sure that we are not spreading ourselves to thin and forgetting that giving also comes in the form of our alone time spent with the Lord.
The Bible says that we should be giving in both time and money. It says we should be generous and willing to give anything we can– if we don’t have money, we should serve. The Bible talks most about whole-hearted giving, genuine giving, then it does many other topics, even in relation to money and giving.
Our time is so short and valuable that we should be aware of how few days we have and use them to gain wisdom in our spiritual lives.
But we are not just called by God to use our valuable time for our own spiritual gain. We are also called to use our time for others.
When my dad passed away 6 years ago now, I jumped into the Word of God and focused on devotionals and all that. I also took over leading worship at the church we were attending at the time. I was really just trying to immerse myself in God. I joined a women’s Bible study and at the end of the study one night I was walking to my car and one of the ladies came out and said, hey if you need to talk let me know. I didn’t think to much of it I was going about doing things the way I was…so I said, oh ok…thank you and then went on my way. As we continued that study, I did eventually talk with the woman who had reached out. I didn’t know I needed that, I didn’t know I needed someone to reach out…but I am glad that she decided to reach out and offer her time.
So often we are nudged and don’t go and do but we may not know when we follow that prompt from the Lord what it means to someone else or even to you.
Allow the Lord to you with you. Giving your time can be done in many different ways and opportunities.
And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. Hebrews 13:16
When we are open to the Lord in all ways of giving, we are offering what we have to offer no matter the size of it.
Like the woman in the Bible that gave all she could, those 2 mites, we should be that willing.
We are called to use our time intentionally and wisely, listening for guidance on how God wants us to spend our time. We are to make the most of the time that God has gifted us. We are able to do this because God continually leads us and loves us as we use our short, God-give time.
Grand gestures are great and all, but it is in the purity and willingness that the impact is the greatest.