“Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” Luke 6:38 NLT)
Would this mean any and everything I give. Love, hope, peace, money, strife, encouragement, and the dance of words go on?
Would this mean any and everywhere I give the gift will find a way back home?
The Words of Jesus as spoken above should make sugar plums dance in our heads! Or, maybe nightmares, if there has been no giving!
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The scripture doesn’t specify what the gift is so it seems it could certainly be all of the above Sara mentioned.
God has laws and He made all the laws of the universe that men discover and define. Newton’s third law said, ‘To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction’. This sure lines up with the gift finding ‘a way back home’ that Sara wrote. We like to claim the good gifts coming back, but to think any evil we give out to someone in word, thought or deed will earn a return on our investment is very sobering.
2 Cor 9:6 adds this about the repercussions of the quantity of the gift: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
Matthew Henry’s commentary says, “If we are of a giving and a forgiving spirit, we shall ourselves reap the benefit.” Now that would make me think the gift Debi mentions above would be the gift we give. Makes me think, the tree is known by its fruits….
Yes, Sara, cuz James says, “can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? So the fruit identifies the tree. And the also the quality of the fruit identifies the worth and health of the tree. Some plants can put forth wormy figs and shriveled olives.
And often times we do not know through whom Jesus chooses to bestow our blessings on us for our being obedient to His Word. Our friend Jean used to say something similar to that. Sometimes they come through the auspisces of those whom we may not be singularly fond of…but God chooses how and through whom He wishes to use to send the’ return for our investment’, as Debi puts it.
I have always liked water gardens, particularly the kind with deep pools and big waterfalls. When you think about it, they really illustrate the life of a giver. That powerful pump empties the deep pool and pushes the water out and then up and over the carefully formed rocks, cascading happily down and filling the pool again so that it is never empty yet always changing and refilling. A giver gives out, yet before you know it the Lord is pouring more back in so the giver can give again, and again and again. And all the while the waterall is happily cascading over the rocks singing as it goes and the water is filled with air and life.
A deep pool whose waters have nowhere to go or give out becomes murky, dark, putrid. Nothing given out, nothing coming back in is stagnant and really good for nothing but breeding mosquitos.
We have lovely illustrations. But, I would imagine most, if not all, of us would be saying, “all I do is give and I am dry as a dry bone!” Give, give, give, no rest, no peace, no time for myself. Give, give, give. Do, do, do! ‘Horns a Tooting’ ( WOW aka words of wisdom, from my Mom) all over the place. From the sound of the horn of Luke 6, we need to find out why we don’t have the results of giving….
And, for our readers that have the results let us hear from you. Toot your horn real loud so we can all run out and hear!
Dot Clifton Zafra, writes, ” If any of us didn’t get anything out of yesterday; then its because we contributed nothing to it. What we give, we receive.”
Depends on why we’re giving, I guess. Am I giving to receive? Or do I give out of a heart of love and compassion? Or just because it makes the Lord happy? Or, maybe HE didn’t tell me to give to this, that or the other and I missed where I am to pour out for the season. What am I looking for to receive when I give? A million dollars? That would be nice and that is not impossible but every day I receive food, clothing, shelter, praise from friends. Is that it? Is that enought for me? Maybe I am asking amiss, like it says in James. These are just thoughts that go through my mind as I ponder the questions like those that Sara raised above.
I have lots of thoughts to ponder as well. If I want a new car, house, cell phone, etc. do I need to try and give one away to get one?
Your question Sara really makes one think. How does God’s mathematics work? Is there a set formula? Is it an attitude of the heart or simply an action?
I thought of the comparison of the widow giving a very small amount in monetary value yet compared to those that gave a great amount she was given back a commendation by Jesus while the others received what seems like a rebuke.
As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.”I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4
Then in John 6 there was the boy who gave his lunch to Jesus, yet Jesus multiplied it and gave back not just to the boy but to 5000 others AND they had leftovers.
Good thinking Debi. Sure takes a lot of pressure off the heart.
Here are the footnotes for Luke 6: 37-38: “A forgiving spirit demonstrates that a person has received God’s forgiveness. Jesus used the picture of measuring grain in a basket to ensure the full amount. If we are critical rather than compassionate, we will also receive criticism. If we treat others generously, graciously, and compassionately, however, these qualities will come back to us in full measure. We are to love others, not judge them.”
Sara, am I understanding that we must give with the right motive, give cheerfully, and give sacrificially/unselfishly (like the poor widow), then we will have the blessings of God? (or have the “sugar plums dancing in our heads?”)
Needles, reading your footnote, ‘these qualities will come back to us in full measure’ reminded me of the wood paddle ball toy…you slam that ball, driving it away, but then as sure as sure, that same ball comes rebounding right back to you.
Makes me think, serve responsibly, with the love with which Christ loved you.
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34
Interesting thought, Debi…….the “wood paddle ball”, makes me think of a “yo-yo”.
However, when I was younger, I couldn’t always get that yo-yo to come back up. You had to “do” it just right, for the yo-yo to come back up, correctly.
Based on those footnotes Needles just posted we better get the yo-yo to work right. Or, find one that will. And, that wood paddle ball, I was always breaking the rubber ban or whatever that things was that made it come back. And, many times it would go off the side of the paddle. Now, there is a skill to practice I do believe.
The ‘measuring grain in a basket’ in Needles footnotes brings to mind that this is the time of year when farmers are measuring out ‘grain’ or seed to plant in the fields and people are measuring out their seed to plant a garden. Whatever seed is planted is what comes up…plant (sow) a grain of corn, get an ear; plant (sow) a tomato seed, get a tomato. And if they don’t plant it right…nothing. If they decide it’s too much work, rather go play, and don’t plant anything, don’t expect anything.
Galatians 6:7-10 gives clear guidelines for sowing and lets us know what to expect fro it.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Another biblical viewpoint concerning sowing and reaping: Paul answers the rhetorical question in 1Cor. 15:35.. “And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. ”
So that makes me think in a another vein….what return you get on the seed you sow may not necessarily be the exact thing that you sowed. When the farmer sows an apple seed he looks for the apples he will receive, not for just a bunch more of seeds (altho that will be a side effect). But he’s looking for apples! If I sow a packet of marigold seeds I look for golden flowers….not necessarily for more marigold seeds per se. So when we give and give and sow good deeds we may receive back our reward in a different packaging than the one that we planted in someone’s life. I, like Sara writes, got weary of looking for the same favor back that I bestowed (planted) in others’ lives and began to see what blessings I am receiving in different packaging…for as Paul says above, ‘GOD gives it a “body” as HE chooses. So thank You God for my blessings however they come. I receive them as from the Lord of the Harvest.
“There are those who [generously] scatter abroad, and yet increase more; there are those who withhold more than is fitting or what is justly due, but it results only in want” (Proverbs 11:24, AMP)
Where your treasure is, there’s where your heart will be. Where your heart is, there’s where your money will be. Luke 12:34
I believe Haggai 1 addresses the ‘want’ issue Sara quoted above from Proverbs…the cause of it.
“Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.”