GIVING FROM THE HEART – Mark 12:41-44

John 12:20-25: Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Matthew 6:19-21: Do not lay up treasures on earth for yourselves, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up treasures in Heaven for yourselves, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7: But I say this, He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Each one, as he purposes in his heart, let him give; not of grief, or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Cheerful in Greek is “hilaros” (hil-ar-os’) We get our English word Hilarious—“great joy, abundant merriment.”

2 Samuel 24:24: But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.