Giver and Receiver--We Are Both

“Give, and it shall be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38 NIV).

   “Give, and it will be given to you,” the words of Jesus assure us that when we give we will receive.  “A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over”—that’s what we will get.  Wow, sounds good, that sounds like we will get a lot.  But we can’t miss the last part of the verse, “For the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  I’m pretty sure that means that if I am stingy, I won’t receive an amount running over.   I also don’t think that it means that we will get back just the same amount as we give.  The “amount” we give is not strictly measured by the amount we put in the gift, but by how much of it is given from the heart.  If we can easily afford a gift of $1000 and we give $100, it’s probably not given from the heart.  If we can afford to give $10 and we give $25, that’s a heart gift that the Lord will return abundantly—pressed down, shaken together.  I don’t mean that we should take money needed for food from our family, but I do mean that we should think of giving the cost of the fancy dessert.

  We usually think of money when we read this Scripture, but we can give more things than money.  We can give of our time, we can give of our effort, and mainly we can give of the love that God shares with us.  If we give up the time it takes to watch a tv show, or a baseball game, and share it with someone who may just need someone to sit and talk to, or if we give up that time to mow a neighbor’s lawn, it’s a heart gift.  We can share the produce we grow in our gardens or we can provide meals for someone who is ill.  We can give rides to church or the doctor, or we can help someone change a tire.  God sees all of these gifts, and He will see that we receive help when we need it, when we need assurance from a friend, and when the pantry is getting low.

   The point of this Scripture is that God sees when we give, He expects us to give, and He rewards us in a manner appropriate.  We may not even realize that we have received the help because we gave help.  God is aware of everything we do, and He loves to reward us when we share the love that He has so richly given us.