Giving & Receiving

From Henry’s Desk

 

One day a couple friends and I were sitting at my dining room table having a light conversation about giving and receiving.  One of them reached into his pocket, pulled out a dollar bill and stretching it towards me said “Here, I’ll sow this dollar and receive back two.”  Without thinking, my immediate response was, “Sure, if that is the level you want to play at, you can.  However, if you want to play at a higher level, you can do that too.”

Now it wasn’t the amount of the money that made it a low level interaction, it was the portion of his potential ability that he was willing to invest that made it low level.  Now don’t go off on a tangent thinking God just wants my money.  God wants your heart, but if He has your heart, you will give.  Is He your treasure, or are you possessions, money, and valuables your treasure?  If He is your treasure, there is no competition.

Jesus in speaking of the widows mite said, “She out of her need has given all she had to live on, therefore she is the biggest giver.”  Giving is not based on an amount or percentage, it is based on ability, potential, motivation, attitude, and obedience.

Now I set out to write about sowing and reaping, but it appears I have ended up on giving.  When we give we think about percentages (i.e. 10%), or amounts, (I.e. $1, $5, $20, $50) while God looks at our potential to give based upon how much He has prospered us.  And by the way, if He has greatly prospered us, but we have been selfish and spent it on ourselves, or poor stewards and do not have much to give, He doesn’t think, “Oh well, they were poor stewards, I’m not going to hold that against them.”

What’s in our hearts is what we treasure.  If money and things are at the heart of our lives, then we will only give a portion out of what‘s left over.  If God is at the heart of our lives, then we will be givers.

We need to ask ourselves, “What’s in my heart, what do I treasure?”