Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.
Luke 6:38
Have you ever gone gift-shopping for someone who already has everything? If they already own the latest gadgets, the hippest clothes, the finest jewelry, and everything else under the sun, it's difficult to find a gift that will be of any value to them. What do you possibly give someone like that? In a word, you.
Gifts are not nearly as important as people, so if you are going to give something completely unique, something that they will value, your best bet is to give something personal -- something that only you could give. Give of yourself, and you will give the greatest gift of all: love. And that's exactly how we should give to the Lord.
When we offer gifts to the Lord, it's not what He stands to gain that matters. God has all the resources He needs to accomplish His saving work here on earth, without a penny from us. Not one penny. But that's not why He wants us to give. We are to give because we love. Just as we give gifts to family and friends as a sign of our love for them, so we should give to the Lord. And just as we try to make the gifts we give as unique as possible that they'll be valued by their recipient -- so we should give the most unique gift of all to the Lord: ourselves.
You see, to give of ourselves to the Lord is to show our love for Him. Love is what matters. Love is what makes a gift valuable. 1 Corinthians 13:3 tells us that we can actually give our every last dollar to feeding the poor, but if we don't have love, our gift is worthless -- we profit nothing. We can give our bodies to be burned, sacrificed for others, but if we do it without love, we're wasting our time. Love is the currency of heaven, more valuable than anything we could ever touch with our hands or see with our eyes.
Jesus says in Luke 6:38 that when you give, "it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom." See, Jesus is telling us that the way we treat others will dictate how we will be treated. Forgive, and you will be forgiven (Luke 6:37). Give, and you will be given. Love, and you will be loved. It's not what we stand to gain that should motivate our giving. Love should be our motivation, and our very lives should be our gift.
What are you willing to give to the Lord? And what are you willing to give to others? Give your whole self. The gospel springs to life when people like you and I give of ourselves to the people around us. God becomes real to those who don't yet know Him when we show our love by giving. If we give our whole self, we don't hold on to anything -- everything is His. If our entire being is an offering to the Lord, we give Him full access to our plans, our thoughts, our families, our finances... everything. And when we do, He is faithful to give back to us a richness that is "running over," a life made abundant by His unwavering love. After all, it was His gift to us that started everything: He gave His whole self. It was a gift of love, and no gift could be any greater.
Devotions with Emotion
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