“Give,
and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down,
shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.
For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured
back to you.” (Luke 6:38)
Do you remember the Oral
Roberts show that was on TV, some years ago? Our Scripture for
today was a key verse on that show, and the way they used it
troubled me. The idea was that if I send money to your TV show,
I will get money in return. A lot of money. That is, if I send
$100.00 to you, God will automatically send $1,000.00 to me,
which will come from someplace else. I will receive an
inheritance, a raise in pay, or SOMETHING, which is GUARANTEED
to give me abundantly more than I gave to you.
Now there is truth in
that, for there is reward for giving, which is the very point of
this verse and many others in Scripture. But there’s a problem:
We don’t just give so we’ll get something. Instead, we give as
led by God, out of the love of God, for He has higher purposes
than our own. If you read the context of Luke 6:38 carefully,
you’ll see that the motive to “give”
as presented in that verse, is based in love; not that WE might
receive something in return. If I give to get, it’s all about
me, which is the very opposite of love.
God has given us
ministries of giving, in which we are PRIVILEGED to give. Oral
Roberts would agree – When we give, it is really giving to God;
not to a TV show. But the problem was that the emphasis has
been on you and me getting BACK something. We’re to give just
because God draws us, and then TRUST Him that He will meet all
our needs. There’s a Latin expression, “Quid
Pro Quo,” which means “something
for something” – Something is given, but only for the
purpose of receiving something in return. This is NOT like that
at all. Paul recognized that, and taught, “God
loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Giving is
about your heart and love for others.
God has in mind that you
will have joy. Paul noted that the churches in Macedonia were
very poor. They were in “a great
trial of affliction,” which resulted in “the
abundance of their joy,” for their “deep
poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality” (2
Corinthians 8:2). Don’t misunderstand and think this is just
about your wallet, by the way – Giving is not only about money.
This thing we call “money”
doesn’t even exist, except that we pretend that it does. Money
is just paper, and giving is about love.
Do we REALLY love the
Lord? Those who do will look to Him are increasingly drawn to
give, but, as stated, money is only a small part of giving. We
discover that God has in mind much more – He values our time,
energy, abilities, and the years of your youth. “Oops,”
you might respond, for that is more than most intend to give.
It’s one thing to pay a few dollars and then you’re done for a
week, and another to give everything you’ve got. God longs for
that which is the hardest for many – He wants you to LISTEN, to
His Holy Spirit and to other people. He desires that your
INTEREST will be centered upon HIS purposes and also the needs
of those around you. Impossible? Yes, it is, except He also
will bring it to pass, as you increasingly yield your life to
Him.
Paradoxically, one of
the ways we can give, is to receive. As the need to give is
developed within us, we discover that the same need is also
operating in others. THEY need to give also, and it may well be
that you have been selected to help them fan into flame the
desire to REALLY give, that burns so dimly within humanity.
Instead of saying “No,” when
somebody wants to give to you, try looking to the Lord instead.
He may lead you to RECEIVE that gift, as a form of giving to
that other person.
The ministries we are
involved in should help us to learn to give. One of the
blessings of Friday Study Ministries, our Church on the Net, is
not only that we are enabled to give through this electronic
work of God, but we also have opportunities for YOU to give, as
well. We have a Prayer Team and are looking for those who want
to pray. We have a Newsletter that seems like it always needs
to be written, but there’s so little time – Would you like to be
an author? “Especially For Youth” has been very popular, but we
need articles and other materials – Will you volunteer?
Will you get OTHERS to
volunteer? Which can be the hardest of all, for you are then
taking a very large step in Christian ministry – Developing
others into persons who will become ministers themselves. When
Jesus broke the Matzo bread at the Last Supper, He passed it to
the next man, who then broke it again, and passed it to the
next, until all received that bread. The imagery is at least
two-fold. When we eat the bread, we are showing the world that
Jesus Christ, the Bread of God, is our Savior and Lord. When we
break the bread and pass it to the next person, we are pledging
that we will “pass it on” –
We are agreeing to share this great Gift, the Son of God, with
other people. We are promising that we will be like “mid-wives”
that birth others into the Kingdom as He enables us, and,
depending on the gifts God has placed in us, bring others to a
place where THEY will be ministers themselves.
It is intended that your
giving will be “for the equipping of
the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ, till we ALL come to the unity of the faith and
the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…”
(Ephesians 4:12-13). You and I are to bring others to a place
where they can be everything God intends them to be.
We “eat” the Bread of
God, which means that we take His very characteristics, His
nature, into our being, and then we “pass the cracker,” so that
others will receive Him and be built into His image, too. If
you are afraid of completely giving your life over to the will
of God and the needs of others, look at our Scripture verse for
today: “Give, and it will be given to
you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running
over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that
you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38).
You will lose nothing. Instead, you will gain everything, both
now and in eternity because of what you do in His will, in His
love.
Let’s pray this prayer
together: Father, thank You for sending Your Son – to me! Thank
You for helping me to understand that the purpose in this Gift
is not only that I will receive – Everything, but also that
OTHERS will see You in me, and want You, too. Please do this in
me, and cause MANY to trust in the Son of God. In Jesus Name.
Amen.
