Good Morning Friends,
Lent invites us to return to the God who loves, forgives, and restores. The Scriptures before us today paint a single, unified picture: God’s generosity and mercy are the pattern for our own. The question is not how much we give, but whether our giving and forgiving flow from love. So, Are We Giving and Forgiving From the Heart?
Scripture: Deuteronomy 9:4b–10, Daniel 9:4b–10, Psalm 79:8–13, Malachi 3:10, and Luke 6:36–38
Message: Let’s dive into today’s Bible verses. In Deuteronomy 9 and Daniel 9 both Moses and Daniel stand before God confessing the sins of their people. They do not defend themselves. They do not bargain. They appeal to God’s character— “great and awesome…keeping covenant and steadfast love.” Their prayers remind us that God’s mercy is not earned; it is given. And because God forgives freely, we are invited to forgive freely. God forgives generationally.
The psalmist pleads for a God whose mercy becomes a song, “Do not remember against us the sins of our ancestors…let your compassion come speedily to meet us.” This is Lent’s cry. We ask God to heal what we have broken and to restore what sin has damaged. And when God does, the psalmist says, we become “the people of your pasture,” offering praise from generation to generation. Forgiveness becomes worship.
Malachi challenges our fear: “Bring the full tithe…see if I will not open the windows of heaven.” The issue is not money, it is trust. God uses giving to reveal what we love and what we fear. When we cling tightly, fear rules us. When we open our hands, we discover that God has already opened His. God provides abundantly.
In Luke Jesus brings it all together: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Before He speaks of giving, He speaks of mercy, forgiveness, and refusing to judge. Why? Because giving without mercy becomes a transaction, but giving rooted in mercy becomes grace. Jesus promises that the measure we use—whether judgment or forgiveness—will be the measure returned to us, “pressed down, shaken together, running over.” God calls us to mercy.
And So, when we give or forgive from love—not guilt, not reward, not pressure—we participate in God’s own generosity. And when we do, God multiplies joy, grace, and abundance in ways we could never manufacture on our own. We become more open to God’s ways…shining a purer light from the heart. Lent teaches us that the real test is love…a love that dispels our fear. Where fear tightens our grip, love opens it. Where fear condemns, love forgives. Where fear counts the cost, love trusts the Giver of all good things. This is the heart of the message.
Pray that God softens our hearts to love as He loves. Pray for courage to forgive as freely as we have been forgiven. Pray to trust God’s abundance more than our fear. Pray to give cheerfully, generously, and often. Pray that our lives reflect the mercy of the One who poured Himself out for us. Pray that our giving and forgiving glorify God’s name and draw us deeper into His heart.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 