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blessing

The Blessing Of Salvation!

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

Each Sunday, I try to post a devotional thought for you to meditate on. Sometimes it will be something out of my own studies and prayers. Other times – like today – it will be from another source.

Today, I am posting about the need and blessing of salvation, by James Smith, courtesy of Grace Gems:

(James Smith, “The Voice of Mercy in the House of Affliction!” 1855)

Salvation

The Blessing Of Salvation!

Salvation is . . .
the greatest blessing that God can bestow;
deliverance from the greatest misery;
exaltation to the greatest happiness;
the greatest change in man’s state and character which can possibly be effected;
the greatest display of the love, wisdom, grace, and power of God!

Salvation is the very blessing that you need. The blessing which you must receive–or be eternally undone!

Salvation is a blessing for the PRESENT, for it is deliverance . . .
from the guilt of sin–which makes you miserable;
from the power of sin–which makes you unholy; and
from the love of sin–which proves you to be God’s enemy.

Salvation is a blessing for the FUTURE: it secures to you safety and happiness in time–and glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life when time shall be no more!

Salvation is a blessing which comprehends every other blessing.
If the man is saved–then all good things are his.
If the man is lost–then nothing good is his.
To be saved, is . . .
for the soul to be restored to a right relationship to God;
to be put in possession of unsearchable wealth;
to be raised to the highest honor; and
to be entitled to eternal glory!

No word is as sweet as salvation–as no word is as dreadful as its opposite, damnation! Reader, there is no intermediate state between these two extremes.

Filed Under: Devotion Tagged With: Bible, blessing, Christ, cross, deliverance, Devotion, God, grace gems, james smith, salvation

Why We Want To Start A Giving Account

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

Late last year when I wrote about unexpected financial blessings I mentioned that one of the reasons why we wanted to pay off debt and save money is to be able to help others.

This has been something that my wife and I talked about many times, even before we got married. We both separately had a goal of being in a position to freely help people whenever there was a need, without being restricted by our own needs.

It would be great if someone could come to us needing a few hundred or even thousand dollars, and us being able to help them out. Right now, we’d have to sell things at a loss, make withdrawals from our retirement account (facing stiff penalties), or simply not pay rent or other bills for a period of time, in order to help them out.

Blessed By Someone With A Giving Account

When I wrote the post about financial blessings, I told about a time where I had to depend on the kindness and preparation of someone who I barely knew…

A long time ago I had a little bit of trouble with my driver’s license. Because of this, I needed to pay off my financed car immediately. The only thing is that I was broke and I still owed $2,000 on the car! If I couldn’t come up with the money in a short period of time (like a week or 2), they would repossess the car.

My wife (who was just my girlfriend at the time) told her best friend about my problem. He then offered to give me a loan for the full amount and allow me to pay it back over 8 months without interest! My car payments were about $241/month, and I was able to pay him back at $250/month.

I had met him a few times and we were cool, but I wouldn’t consider us friends at that point. However, he still felt moved to help me with such a large gift. At that time I was working full time and I went back to school – I couldn’t afford to have my car repossessed.

His generosity really helped me get through a very tough time, and he was able to part with this money because he had it set aside in a giving account.

So there is one time where I have been the recipient of an unexpected financial blessing from someone I barely knew. Over the years I have had family members and friends step in to help my out financial at various times. I definitely know what it feels like to not be able to get out of a situation on my own, and having to depend on the kindness of others.

Giving Money Poor

As I began to grow in Christ, I have come to realize that it was really God working through these people over the years (which is why the always come along at the “right” time). This has really helped to fuel my passion for wanting to help others.

Since my wife and I have the same desire, this will be an imperative in our marriage going forward!

Setting Up A Giving Account

To us, the biggest part of being able to help people in need when they need it, is for us to make those sacrifices a normal part of our lives. What I mean by that is that we plan to set up a savings account which will only be used when someone comes to us (or to our church).

Our goal is to put money aside with each paycheck in order to build up this “giving account”. This way, it will be much easier to give to someone without there being a major disruption to our finances. It will be much easier to give someone $1,000 if we actually have $5,000 put aside for that purpose, rather than pulling it out of our emergency fund or, worse yet, our operating budget!

So just like I believe that our savings can be set aside for various spending purposes (housing, college, emergencies, retirement, etc.), I also believe that if giving is extremely important to you, this type of savings account can be very beneficial.

We would hate to be in a situation where someone desperately needs help, we feel that God is leading us to help, but we don’t have the resources at the moment. That’s why we want to be as prepared as possible. So essentially, we would be setting up another emergency fund, but it would just be for the emergency of another person/family.

For those who are concerned that this would take the sacrificial nature out of giving, consider this: The amount that goes into the account from each paycheck will be a sacrifice for us; we are simply making the sacrifice every 2 weeks rather than making it at one time.

This way, we can take advantage of the times where we haven’t come across someone in need, so that our giving can be larger in amount, reach, and impact. So instead of finding a way to come up with a significant amount of money at once, the sum of our smaller, but regular sacrifices may provide enough for us to meet the need more fully.

Unfortunately, because we still paying off debt and find ourselves deep in debt bondage, we are not able to start building this type of account. But the fact that this is so important to us provides us with a significant motivation to pay off our debt as quickly as possible.

What About You?

  1. How do you manage the money that you give above your “normal” giving to your local church? Do you save money for that purpose and then give when something comes up, or do you simply pull the money from your checking account when the need arises?
  2. If you are married, has there ever been a time where you and your spouse have disagreed on trying to help someone? If so, how did you resolve the situation?

Filed Under: Giving, Personal Finance Tagged With: A Blessing, Account, blessing, blessing account, blessing fund, Emergency Fund, Financial Blessings, Putting Money Aside, retirement accounts, Savings Account, Set Aside, Set Aside Money, Types Of Savings Accounts

Unexpected Financial Blessings…What’s Your Story?

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

I came across an article today about anonymous donors paying off layaway balances for various Kmart shoppers. As you can tell from the Kmart Black Friday 2011 ad, they offer a ton of great merchandise around Christmas time!

It’s amazing to consider that people still desire to be the source of these types of unexpected financial blessings! Of course, we know that God is the true source of all blessings…

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. ~ James 1:16-17

However, God still uses willing hearts to help bring financial blessings (and other kinds as well) to His children. I’ve had people come through for me on many occasions, and I was grateful for every one – no matter how great or small the gift.

Even though the bible constantly warns us about misunderstanding the true value of possessions, we are still commanded to help those in need.

What Were Your Unexpected Financial Blessings?

Reading this story made me want to hear about more stories of people receiving financial blessings that were unexpected. So, I want you to share your own experiences. I’ll start with one of my own.

A long time ago I had a little bit of trouble with my driver’s license. Because of this, I needed to pay off my financed car immediately. The only thing is that I was broke and I still owed $2,000 on the car! If I couldn’t come up with the money in a short period of time (like a week or 2), they would repossess the car.

My wife (who was just my girlfriend at the time) told her best friend about my problem. He then offered to give me a loan for the full amount and allow me to pay it back over 8 months without interest! My car payments were about $241/month, and I was able to pay him back at $250/month.

I had met him a few times and we were cool, but I wouldn’t consider us friends at that point. However, he still felt moved compelled to help me with such a large gift. At that time I was working full time and I went back to school – I couldn’t afford to have my car repossessed. His generosity really helped me get through a very tough time.

Once we pay off debt, one of our goals is to set up an account for this purpose. We always want to be in a position to help others. This is another reason why I hate being in debt bondage!

Share Your Stories Of Financial Blessings

Now it’s your turn. Share how people have come into your life and helped you out when you were in a financial jam.

I really think that stories like this can encourage people to be more helpful when others are in need…even if they are complete strangers!

I may even take the comments that are left here and put them in a future article.

photo by Michal Marcol

Filed Under: Bible, Commentary Tagged With: Bible, Biblical Finance, blessing, blessings, care, christian living, financial, pay, people, unexpected

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