Estimated reading time: 11 minute(s)
If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving – large or small – it will be used to measure what is given back to you.”
I lived those words today. I’d like to tell you the story.
If you’re recall my story from yesterday, I had quite an eventful day that was nothing like I had planned it to be. And, at the end of the day, I spoke with some friends about wanting to help them with their current tight financial situation. They agreed, so this morning I was speaking with them about how much to give. I thought last night that we could probably give a couple hundred dollars, based on what we currently had in our bank account, and that was a pretty cool start. It was not more than ten minutes before I called last night that they had spent over $200 on a part for their water heater that had just died. Very cool.
Well, this morning, I offered several price options, much like an auctioneer… $200? $225? Do I hear $250? Ha! That was funny. But I wasn’t sure what would help, so I just asked. When my friend said $200 will be fine, something told me that wasn’t quite enough. So, before I gave up, I said, “How about $230?” The response to that was, “Why did you say that?” And before I could say much more, my friend revealed that they had two bills due this week, one for $119 and another for $111. $230!! Ha! Awesome!!!
So, we were both amazed, and I was about to go get the checkbook when the phone rang.
Now, this morning, I actually again said to God, out loud, “What do you have for me today, God?” (You’d think I would learn…)
On the phone was our friend Garry, who is a guitar instructor. Garry also has a cool organization called Project Urge, and talked with me recently about re-doing his website. So, while I am continuing an IM chat with our other friends, Garry is asking me if I can teach guitar lessons for him today, and he wants to get started on the web stuff right away. At first I refused the invitation to teach, having never even taken a guitar lesson in my life! I figured I was not the right one for the job, and even IMed a few friends who were online to see if they wanted to do it! 🙂 No takers, and the more we talked, it seemed like this was something from God. So, I sheepishly accepted – all the while maintaining he has the wrong guy for the job.
By the end of the conversation we had tallied up the start up costs for the website and what he wanted to pay me for teaching the lessons. You guessed it. Well, actually maybe you didn’t. Did you guess $230? That was close. But remember what Jesus said above? “Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over.” I gave $230 – which was the perfect amount for our friends – and in return, God gave me (only minutes later!!!) $349.83!!!!
Whoa!! I still can’t even really believe it.
The cool part is, I was not in any way giving to our friends in order to get some sort of blessing in return. We don’t expect anything from our friends, and I didn’t expect anything from God. I felt like he has given to us of late, and like he wanted us to share. And I was more than glad to, since so many have shared with us along the way. And as I gave, I also received!
Awesome!!!!!
I hope this little story is an encouragement to you. When I talk about having “a little extra right now”, I am not at all suggesting we have truck loads of cash. God has allowed us to pay all of our bills on time as of late, and even have a few hundred dollars in our bank account. Instead of holding on to that which I can not hold on to, I saw the extra money as a blessing God could give to someone else. I know that He who put that several hundred there could replenish that 100 times over. And he has. And he did.
The more you can let go, the more he can do. It’s really true. I have seen it happen so many times. And again today.
Awesome.
That is awesome! It really shouldnt surprise us when following Him turns out pretty great, but it does! That’s because we’re….human 🙂
I went to this fundraising dinner once for Campus Crusade, and I met this guy that was obviously well off, really stinkin’ rich, ya know? The portly guy with the big laugh and expensive armani suit. But what got to me was his smile – huge, joyful smile. He was telling me how much he enjoyed my band’s music (we were there to play) and I asked him if he’d be donating to Crusade. He said, “of course, and it’s a funny thing. I make a ton of money, and every year I give as much of it away as I can. The next year, for some reason, I always make more than I made the year before … so I give away more. And it keeps going like that.” He was cool. Like he liked giving so he could make more to give away.