Daily Thought For December 19, 2019

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Not To Us Lord Give The Glory

Sometimes we look to others, hoping for their esteem, or respect, or honor; at other times, we might look to God, expecting his favor or consolation in prayer.  In more or less hidden ways, we can come to expect such spiritual recompense.

 Christ teaches us the principle that helps us to purify our intentions: without cost you are to give because without cost you have received.  And what have we received?  Grace, God’s own life within us, animating and elevating us to be his instruments, to serve as conduits, as it were, of that very same grace.  Of his own initiative and without cost, God offers us this greatest of gifts.  

 When we do the Lord’s work as laborers for his harvest, it really is his harvest, because the fruit of our work results principally from his work in us, from his original gift (cf. Phil 2:13).  Without cost, the Master works in us and through us, enabling and ennobling us in this work; so let us imitate the Master and give to others also without cost.
Generous Father, you give yourself to me without reserve, without limit, and all of this without cost.  Help me to imitate your generosity, working for no reward apart from the joy of knowing and loving you. 

 (Scott G. Hefelfinger, The Magnificat Advent Companion, Advent 2019, p. 25.)

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