Giving

Matt. 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give.


Until January 1, 1990 I liked to call myself a Frugal Man, what I was is stingy. Not that I didn´t ever give anything away, I did. I did all I could to help people that could help me! I built rooms and screened in porches for my father-in-law and I did free Break Jobs for any number of important people. People that had the power to okay or to deny my Job Bids.


On the first of January, 1990 I began to read the Word of God with my Spiritual Eyes and Ears opened. And in Matthew 10 we find Jesus sending His Disciples out to minister the Word of God to the people. In verse five we find Jesus issuing commands; 5 Jesus sent these twelve out, and charged them.


Yes, there are a number of commands before the highlighted (by me) in verse 8 but for this discussion we will concentrate on verse 8b. I was very lucky when I married my wife, she´s a Deacon´s Daughter and has been giving of herself since she was a child. As a result of my hunger for the Word of God and her tutelage I was introduced to the usage of, not so much a gift of God as it is a Command. I´m not saying that there is no Gift of Giving, no... I´m saying that every human created has the Gift of Giving and God has Commanded us to use it.


The very best thing about giving is that the giver has the Joy of seeing the relief, joy and changes of life the gift gives and when we give God makes His promise in Psalm 23 come into our lives in a manor we cannot ignore. My wife and I have always had just about enough money and in spite of our finances we have chosen to give. Every time we choose to give, God steps in, in some manor and replenishes to the point that we have extra!


In the past we would make projects for VBS the were worth a few thousand dollars. I would spend a week of my vacation working fourteen to sixteen hours a day and together we would burn in excess of a hundred and forty man hours preparing and then the week of VBS helping the kids build, paint and finish the projects. The first year I ever worked VBS we built Frog Puppets, mannequins, for the little guys and girls and Wall Plaques and other more grown up projects for the older kids. We never made that mistake again. Every kid from six to sixty wanted the puppets and every parent in church was ready to skin us alive after untangling their kids puppet about the fiftieth time.


In summary, I urge you to look around, there are folks all around you that need! Talk to their family and their friends to see how they got to this point and then, with great care, shop for the best deal that will yield value and long term service. Don just give money to the people you meet. That is the best way to set yourself up for disappointment and do not pay someones rent ten months in a row. You want to be careful not to enable bad behavior, your goal is to give a leg up!


And when you think that it cannot get any better, when you are just thrilled and filled with joy because you found a way to do this without the whole world knowing it, stand back! God will pour out a blessing you will not be able to contain and will need to give away again.


God bless.