We’re told there’s more joy in giving than in receiving—especially at Christmas, the season of generosity. There are exceptions to every saying, but when it comes to the body of Christ and the persecuted Church, the joy in giving is not only factual, it’s biblically backed.
In Truth and In Deed
Let’s talk about love for a minute.
Love is an active word. It is habitually described as an emotion, but the true and full expression of love is found in the doing. It’s not enough to say we love, or even to feel it. For love to have full completion, we must show it too.
1 John 3:17-18 addresses this through a gentle and fatherly admonition:
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
The persecuted church are our family—our brothers and sisters in Christ—and they need our support.
In the act of giving, we are fulfilling the Word and loving with actions and in truth.
More Than Just Gifts
As an expression of love, giving is practical, proactive, and life-affirming. And when it meets a need, it can be extremely powerful.
That’s why gifts of hope are more than just gifts.
Every gift loves believers by meeting a pressing need in the persecuted Church—from giving a young Christian their very first Bible to providing a desperate believer with emergency food relief.
Your gifts of hope beautifully outwork the heart of God toward His children. This includes the Bible’s definition of pure and faultless religion that cares for others, particularly widows and orphans in their distress (James 1:27).
One gift of hope
empowers women. Some are wives and mothers who live with the restless ache of having lost their husbands and children.
Another gift of hope
provides children of all backgrounds with age-appropriate Bibles so they can know God loves them and fights for them as a good and loving Father.
Jesus’ birth and selfless sacrifice gave our fragile world the greatest gift it has ever received or ever will.
At a time of year where we celebrate His life Jesus serves as our best example of why it is more blessed to give than receive.
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35
