Give and It Will Be Given

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

GIVE AND IT WILL BE GIVEN

Luke 6:37-38

 38 Give, and it will 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." 

NIV

It is interesting the Greek word translated as give has no other meaning than to simply give. However, most of the forms it implies to give someone something of our own accord. That would mean we should not give under some compulsion placed on us by someone else. In other words, someone should not be telling us we should give something to someone. When we give, we should be giving simply because we want to give it. This would also mean that we should not give someone something simply because is going to bless us by giving more to us than we gave away to someone. Although that is true. When we give from our own self-compassion God will take that which we have and he will press it down, shaken together, and running over will he pour that which we gave onto our laps. We are not sure how that looks in real-time, and when he will press down and shaken together and running over he will pour whatever it is into our laps. We do recall many years ago in our first years of being saved, someone gave us a TV, but we knew someone who needed a TV, so we gave it to them, and then someone else gave us another TV, and this went on for as I recall about five or six TV's until my father-in-law bought us a TV and we felt we just could not give that way as it would be an insult to him, and that was the last TV we ever received for free. Of course, that was back in the day of the big tube-type televisions, some of which were received and given away were big consoles. Maybe that is how this is supposed to work, the more we give to someone, someone else will give to us, and that is all through the movement of the Spirit. However, we think this has nothing to do with giving at church a tithe or free gift. That is simply our privilege to support both the physical care of the building and the financial care of those who have been called to serve full-time in ministry in the church. This “give, and it will be given to you”, is about personal giving within or outside the church. Still, what is received as a good measure, pressed down and overflowing may not be the same that which we give. It might not be this seed faith concept that a more famous preacher wrote the book, “Seed Faith” where he said, “If you need money, give money, if you need love give love, if you need clothes, give clothes, etc., etc., etc. I have never given away a car, yet somehow God has seen to it that I have received two cars, for free. He has seen to it to give me two new homes. I must have given something, maybe it was myself. Maybe God has poured blessings into my lap because I have given myself to his calling. I don’t know, I cannot figure out why God has poured so much into my lap. I feel so unworthy, however, I give him all the glory and praise for everything he has done for me, in me, and through me. I don’t know what else my lap could hold, but I will keep giving myself.