Lesson Four • Give
Devotion #1: Seek an Opportunity
Stephen Billings
“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.” Philippians 4:10
Recently, I reached out to a missionary friend of mine to see if he would be willing to virtually join Awana at The River Goodrich. My request was for my friend to share details about his missionary work during Awana. Frankly, when you have a friend whose job is to fly helicopters for God’s glory, kids tend to think you are pretty cool!
After a fun-filled evening, I called my friend to thank him for faithfully pursuing God’s plan for his life. As our conversation continued, I discovered that my friend was not yet fully funded for his upcoming ministry season. As I thought of how I could help, I realized that I knew a few local churches and lead pastors who I thought may be interested in supporting my friend. I knew that each church I mentioned had the heart to support missionaries, but was not sure if the churches could afford to add support for another missionary. My friend had a need, but was it the right time and opportunity for these churches to begin to support my friend’s ministry?
In the book of Philippians, Paul is writing to a church located in Philippi. In Philippians 4:10-13, Paul is recounting how God has matured him to be “content” (4:11) in all circumstances of life. Verse 10 in particular highlights that the church in Philippi wanted to help meet Paul’s needs, but for a long time was not able to provide support for Paul. To be exact, Paul says the church of Philippi did not have the “opportunity” to give.
Just as many of the churches my missionary friend was about to approach may not have the opportunity to support him, the same was true in the relationship between the church of Philippi and Paul. However, it is important to understand that Paul said the church of Philippi was “indeed concerned” for his well-being. So the church of Philippi did give when it was the right opportunity.
The question then arises, “What do we do when there is an opportunity to give?” Do we have hearts where we want to give as God has blessed us? Or is our heart hard to the needs of the church and others? We are not called to give to every single need that presents itself to us, but we are called to give when the opportunity arises.
Personally, I find my heart at times becomes cold when asked to give because there are so many opportunities to give to others. This is so wrong. God wants our hearts to be of a giver regardless of what we can give. If our hearts are soft and willing to give, then when the right opportunity arises we will be able and willing to give to others.
Spend some time today with God. Evaluate your heart before God. Is your heart soft and ready to give unto others?