By Cindy Phillips
‘Tis the season. Jennie mentioned making gift-giving a year-long habit. I love the examples she gave of little things you can do to bless people now and all year long. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to let people know you love and appreciate them.
That got me to thinking about Scripture (are you surprised?). In Acts 20:35 the Apostle Paul is speaking about giving and he quotes Jesus saying “it is more blessed to give than receive”. Did you know this saying of Jesus is not recorded in the Gospels? Obviously He said it and it was passed along verbally to people. Did you ever think about why? Why is it more blessed to give? Obviously it is a blessing to receive, but the bigger blessing is on the (obedient) giver. Why? Who has given you the greatest gift? God! John 3:16. If it were more blessed to receive than to give then we’d be more blessed than God. That’s not going to happen!
I will say one of the hardest things for me, when I became a Christian, was to receive. I love to give but never felt worthy to receive anything from anyone else. The Lord had to correct me. One day when someone gave sacrificially to me, in obedience to the Lord, I heard God speak to me. I did not hear this in an audible voice. I heard it inside as He is prone to speak to us (if we will listen). He told me this person was instructed to give to me and I needed to humble myself and receive it in the spirit it was given. Why? Because it would bless the giver. The lightbulb suddenly went off! I knew how it felt to give when the person received it with gratitude and I knew how it felt to give when the person was ungrateful. By humbling myself and receiving the item as if from His very hand, the giver walked away blessed and full of joy!
So I want to encourage you to be generous in your giving. One of the most valuable things you can give is your time. Even a simple “thank you” to the folks around you who bless you with their ministry is a gift that will bless you back. And when someone wants to give to you, receive it in humility and as if from the very hand of God, knowing the giver will be even more blessed!