Give Somenthing

​Runaway inflation. Record deficit spending. Insurmountable mountains of local, state, national and personal debt. Taxpayer funded bailouts and handouts.
 
 I have a politically incorrect idea for helping people who genuinely need help that just might turn our sluggish economy around.  
 
·      Instead of handouts, how about a hand up? Instead of receiving, how about giving? It is natural during tough times when we have needs to seek a gift from someone else. But may I suggest something somewhat radical? Something that smacks of the supernatural?
 
·      How about giving? That’s right. GIVE. Are you kidding Steve? Give during an economic downturn? Has our bankrupting national debt buried your common sense? Not at all.
 
·      Giving is not off the wall. Or over the top. It is scriptural.
 
Jesus invites (actually commands) us to give in our verse for this week. It is an invitation with a promise.
 
“Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:38
 
The Lord promises that those who give will be given to.
 

• GIVE…AND PEOPLE WILL GIVE TO YOU!

 

• GIVE…AND GOD AND PEOPLE WILL BLESS YOU ABUNDANTLY.

 

• GIVE….AND EXPECT TO RECEIVE ACCORDING TO YOUR GIFT.

 

• GIVE A LITTLE. GET A LITTLE. GIVE A LOT. GET A LOT!

 
Note that Jesus said when we give “it” will be given to us. What is “it”? I believe “it” is what we give. In other words, what we give will be given to us. And “it” will come back to us abundantly. How much return? Whatever “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap” is. I LIKE THAT!
 

• Now that is an economic stimulus package that I can vote for and live with!

 
While the world is looking for handouts and bailouts, God’s people, who know His Word, should be holding their hands out to give what they have to those in need. Giving is always something we can do whether the economy is up or down.
 
The rubber meets the road when we realize that the more need, we have, the more we need to give. God gives to us so we can give to others. Through giving, God gives back to us. The giving//receiving cycle goes on and on when we choose to give.
 

• Downturns become upturns when we begin giving.

 
 If you currently find yourself in a difficult financial situation and need something, GIVE SOMETHING! Ask God what He would have you to do.
 
Need a good job? Give something to someone who needs a job. Need some groceries? Give some groceries to a family who needs some food. Need your utility bills paid? Pay a utility bill for a struggling single mom? Need your car repaired? Help pay a repair bill for a neighbor less fortunate than you.
 

• Sow a seed. Meet someone’s need.

 
Where are you at my brother or sister in Christ? Are you waiting for someone to give to you? Or are you watching out for opportunities to give to someone? Is your hand out looking for a bailout? Or is your hand out giving to someone who needs a hand up? 
 

• IF YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE, GIVE!

 
Giving is the key to happy, fulfilling, joyful, successful living. If you want to see your situation turn around, I challenge you to give. Give something to someone. Go against the grain of greed. Focus on needs.  
 
Bottom line: You and I can choose to give. Each of us has something to give. We have more than we think we have. We all know people who need what we have. Who needs what you can give to them to make their life a little more tolerable at this time?
 
Tight economic times are not the time to be stingy and tight. Loosen up your purse strings. Turn the tables on this economic downturn. GIVE SOMETHING. Do it today. Defy and shame the selfish, misguided, mindless logic of takers and hoarders.  
 

• Be wise with your resources. Prayerfully seek God’s guidance about giving.  As He directs, give something to someone in need.

 
I truly y believe we can give our way out of difficult times. Biblical prosperity is often a process that comes to pass over time. What I love most about giving is the inner satisfaction of pleasing the Lord when I give to someone else in His name. And I do like it when God blesses me for being a giver!
 
Maybe, just maybe, our governmental and financial leaders should seek Jesus’ advice. He would simply say “Give and it will be given to you.”
 
 “There is one who scatters yet increases all the more. And there is one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.”                                               Proverbs 11:24-25
 
“For if the readiness is present (to give to others in need), it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he does not have.”                  II Corinthians 8:12 
 
A Word For Your Week: Be a generous giver during this economic downtime.