GIVE, GIVE, GIVE!

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Luke 6:38 NIV).

This is a verse that gets a lot of use in prepping an audience for an offering. To use it only in that way, however, is to lift it out of context and actually rob it of some of its most potent meaning.
To be true to the Word, this verse has to be tied to the preceding verse which reads:

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Taken together, as they should be, these two verses have a powerful message about the embracing of a spirit of generosity and the shunning of criticism and judgmentalism.

One very wise old-timer once told me “What you don’t understand, you will tend to criticize,” and he was right. There is a lot going on in the church world today that I find confusing, and my tendency is to criticize because I don’t understand what I see happening, and it bothers me. I am taking a personal stand in my own life about being critical and judgmental…I’m not going to let it happen anymore!

My personal commitment is to embrace a spirit of generosity. If I don’t understand what is going on, as I observe it, I will extend to the situation my silence. It is better to say nothing than it is to be critical.

The giving that is spoken of in verse 38 can take several forms and I will touch on only a few. First, extend forgiveness. Second, embrace a generous spirit that gives the benefit of the doubt to situations we have little or incomplete information on. Third, embrace giving, one of the hallmark characteristics of the Father Himself: “For God so loved the world that He gave…” (John 3:16). God is a giver!

There are other forms that giving takes when we embrace the spirit of generosity and, yes, one of them is the openhanded, liberal giving of our finances but that is not the primary focus of Jesus’ teaching here.

Embedded in these two verses is a powerful promise and a strong word of caution. The promise is, “Give and it will be given unto you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.” When you embrace a generous spirit and it begins to work in your life and you give out forgiveness, give out love, give of your finances and your time, you will be blessed back with an abundance of the same. It’s the Word and it’s a promise!

The word of caution is: “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Those who embrace generosity of spirit will be blessed in the same measure that they are generous. Those who do not and are critical and judgmental close the door on the blessing; they close the door on the move of God in their lives. Criticism is like the spring hinge on a door; if you activate it, the door closes…on you!

The word “measure” is clear here. You are making the choice “with the measure you use” as to how much of God’s blessing, how much of God’s Spirit, you want in your life. And that takes me back to the title of this devotional thought: “Give, Give, Give!”