10^th October

“Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full – pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

Luke 6:38

True generosity gives without expecting a return. In fact, in the previous verses, Jesus says the following, ‘ Love your enemies. Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid‘. The Kingdom principle is to give to others without expecting to receive back. However, there is good news. Jesus promised that when we do give, our Heavenly Father who sees all, will bless us and in return, what we give, will be given back to us, even more than we gave in the first place. Yet, what we receive in return should never be the motivation of our giving. There is no formula. We give, because all we have is God’s anyway. We give from God’s storehouse, not our own. We give back to Him, what He has already given to us. It is by the grace of God that He blesses us when we give.

Moreover, when we give, especially to those who we feel might not deserve our gifts, we replicate the actions of the our Heavenly Father, ‘…you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for He is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked’ (v35). Our Heavenly Father is compassionate, and likewise, we are commanded to be the same. Let us not withhold the blessings we have freely and generously received. May we freely give our time, our love, our money and our compassion.

We love because we have first been love by God. We give because we first have received from God.