The Way Home will now feature short pieces I’m calling Broken Pieces. (Read Mark 6:34-43 and John 6:12 to find the background for the title.) I hope these brief, Bible-based readings will encourage your faith and inspire your thinking. Check in often, or follow The Way Home (the Follow button is at the bottom right of this page) and receive emails alerting you to each new post.

The Giving God

You return a purchase to the store for a refund and, a half-hour, three clerks, and one manager later, get your refund, but are informed they were under no obligation to give it to you because you didn’t have a receipt and are warned that next time you’d better bring one.

Some people think God is like the management at that store. He doesn’t really want to give us anything. He has to be coaxed into it and, even then, will only help after he lets us know how disappointed he is in us. That is not the God James knew, the God to whom Jesus introduced him. He is – this is a very literal translation of James 1:5 – “the giving God.”

This is the God Jesus knew. He is a giver. He loves to give and he gives because he loves. This is the God who so loved he gave. He knows what you need before you ask, and he is ready to give when you asks. If you know how to give good gifts, Jesus once said to people, “how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). He is the God who “graciously” – not grudgingly – will “give us all things” (Romans 8:32). He is the Father who is “pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12: 32). This is good news about God!