Leadership Thought: How to Make Two People Happy with Your Gift.

Dear Friend,

You may have heard some preacher say, “You should give until it hurts.” In response, one person remarked, “Oh just the very thought of giving hurts.” But rather than giving until it hurts, God says, “Give until you feel good.”

Giving blesses two people: the giver and the one who receives the gift, but too often the blessing of giving is lost because we choose to withhold our gift.

A mother wanted to teach her little girl a lesson about giving. She gave her a quarter and a dollar for church. She said, “Put one in the collection plate and keep the other for yourself.”   As they were leaving the church, her mother asked her what she had put in the offering plate. “Well,” the little girl said, “I was going to give the dollar but just before the collection was taken the man said that we should be cheerful givers. I figured I'd be a lot more cheerful if I gave the quarter and kept the dollar, so I did.”

I think that's exactly the way a lot of people think and act, but that's not what the scripture says, nor is it the way giving works.

Scripture reminds us, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  Acts 20: 35. The greater blessing belongs to the person who gives from a heart of compassion.

Romans 12:13 encourages us to “Share with God's people who are in need.”

Proverbs 11: 24 - 25 states “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; Another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; He who refuses he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

When we share with those in need, God will never let us down. He will provide a twofold blessing, He will not only bless the recipient, but He will also bless us, the giver as well.

Recently before the meal and the offering was taken at a Men’s Breakfast at our church, one of our members came up to me and stuck a $100 dollar bill in my hand, and said, "This is to help with the breakfast and the speaker."  He was not a rich man, but he was rich in the spirit of generosity, and his gift truly blessed me, and from the way he gave it, I knew it blessed him as well.

As believers we do not have to consult a bank book to see how wealthy we are, “for in this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.” Henry Ward Beecher

May God speak to you today and reveal that special someone who would be blessed by your generosity. If you do, you will make two people happy!

Yours in faith,

Tom