Session 10
Unblemished Lambs
From Rich Toward God
Think back to when you were a kid. Was there an activity or hobby that you once loved, but found yourself growing apathetic to over time? Maybe you couldn’t wait to learn how to play the piano, but practicing your scales grew boring over time. Or maybe you were elated when you first made the basketball team, but running conditioning sprints started to feel like a chore.
Even the things we love most can become mindlessly repetitive if we lose the big picture behind the task. If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us have felt this way about our faith at some point, too. We end up reading our Bibles, serving at church, or giving the tithe just to check the box. But God sees past our mindless repetitions—and He wants so much more for us.
God sees the motivation of our hearts, and He wants to give us a new perspective. Instead of doing what is right to check a box or to “measure up”, He gives us the opportunity to practice our faith as an overflow of His love for us. When we remember that Jesus died to make us clean, to purify us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, we can’t help but adopt a posture of humble repentance. And because of His grace, we don’t need to give or do good to demonstrate our own worth. Instead, we can learn to follow God’s ways out of the overflow of the grace lavished on us.
When we step into this new perspective, mindless repetition goes out the window. It’s replaced with deep delight in our everyday relationship with our God.
REFLECT
- As you reflect on your relationship with God, specifically your giving, are you bringing any blemished lambs?
- What does it mean to repent?
- What happens when giving or serving becomes a response to God rather than a way to reach God?