Give

"Give and it shall be given unto thee. Good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over".
Why is it so hard for us humans to understand this principle of God? As much as I give to help others as I am able, I, myself, still need to learn much more about the principle of giving. In this year, 2014, I am setting my sights, by the help of God, on reaching out to help others and to give more to help those in need than ever before. We cannot out-give God. But we must, we must, we must; give from the right spirit and the right attitude! yes, I know that when we give to help someone else, that inside our minds we are quietly thinking, "I'll give this and God will bless me with more". I know we are all guilty of that. But it's not wrong to want blessings for ourselves. And it's not wrong to give to someone else and have thoughts in our minds that God is going to bless us with more too. That's just the human nature to want "a piece of the pie" too. But it all falls on how are you feeling and how is your attitude about the giving when you are giving? Do you feel at that moment of giving, that you are doing something to help someone else, to make their day, or to give them something that they desperately need at the time? The Bible says that, "it is better to give than to receive". Yes, when we give with a right spirit and attitude, we will feel that inner warmth and that feeling of goodness flooding our hearts; because we have helped someone else. Giving from a selfish attitude or from an attitude of only wanting something from God, will not produce that inner feeling of goodness and warmth of helping someone else. That will only produce the though of, "well what's in it for me?" That is totally NOT from God. God told us to try him, and bring all the tithes into the storehouse and to see if he would not pour us out a blessing bigger than we could contain. However! Tithes are NOT where the blessings come from! The 10% tithes off the top, already belongs to God. That portion is what he requires from us! The blessings come from the giving that is beyond the 10% of tithes. Giving is not totally in giving money only. yes there are times that is what we will need to do, to help someone else; but giving includes giving of one's self to assist someone else in their time of need. Giving is making sacrifices to go to jail ministries or nursing home ministries, or running a bus route on Sunday mornings, to get some to church that otherwise could not get there. Giving is numbered in many ways. Jesus said" If you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, then you have done it unto me". When we do ANYTHING to help someone else, we have done it unto Jesus. When we do not, then we have not done it unto Jesus. Giving covers a magnitude of possibilities to help someone else. I cannot tell you all the ways of giving here; I would never stop typing if I tried. God will lay it on everyone's hearts as to when someone is in need and how each of us can do something to help them at the time. And he also allows situations to present itself before us, giving us an opportunity to help someone in our daily lives. How can you help someone today? How can you give to someone, in the way Jesus intends for you to give? It starts in the heart. Do you have a heart to give? Or do have a heart of "what about me?"
Written on face book, 1-31-14