I’m not writing about all of my living ARTFULLY elements, just the ones that might not be obvious. So I’ll skip Loving and go to Life-giving. Here’s the list again:

• Abiding
• Rejoicing 
• Thankful
• Focused
• Unattached
• Loving
• Life-giving
• Yielded

I see Life-giving as what we do when we’re trying to help someone advance in their spiritual life. Jesus presented Paul’s mission that way. Here’s how Paul tells it:

And I said, “Who are you, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to…

• open their eyes, so that they
• may turn from darkness to light and
• from the power of Satan to God, that they
• may receive
  • forgiveness of sins and
  • a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26.15 – 18, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

If that’s not life-giving, I don’t know what is!

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6.35, ESV)

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1.9 – 14, ESV)