YOU CANNOT OUTGIVE GOD

I think it’s easy for us to operate out of a scarcity mentality: the more I give, the less I’ll have.  But it’s not true.  In the kingdom of God, it’s the opposite.  The less you give, the less you have, and the more you give, the more you have.  If you hang on to what you have, your heart will become smaller and smaller.  And you’ll lose your soul in the process.  But if you give what you’ve got your heart will grow larger and larger for the things of God.

That abundance mentality traces back to a biblical promise in Luke 6:38: “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.”

When you give beyond your ability, God is going to bless you beyond your ability.  It’s the inviolable law of measures: you always get back more than you give away.  Don’t get me wrong.  God is not a slot machine.  If you give to get, you don’t get it.  And God won’t honor it.  But if you give for the right reasons, then you’ll discover that you cannot outgive God.  It’s not possible.  In fact, if you start giving beyond your means, you may discover that you have more left over than what you started with.  That is what happens when we add God to the equation of our finances. 

-- Mark Batterson in “PRIMAL: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity”

#4938

GOD'S DAYS

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  (Matthew 6:34 NIV)

There are two days in the week upon which, and about which I do not worry -- two carefree days kept sacredly free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday, with its cares and frets and pains and aches, all its faults, its mistakes and blunders, has passed forever beyond my recall. It was mine; it is God's.

The other day that I do not worry about is Tomorrow. Tomorrow, with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its perils, its large promise and performance, its failures and mistakes, is as far beyond my mastery as its dead sister, Yesterday. Tomorrow is God's Day; it will be mine.

There is left, then, for myself but one day in the week -- Today. Any person can fight the battles of today. Any woman can carry the burdens of just one day; any man can resist the temptations of today. It is only when we willfully add the burdens of these two awful eternities -- Yesterday and Tomorrow -- such burdens as only the Mighty God can sustain -- that we break down.

It isn't the experience of Today that drives people mad. It is the remorse of what happened Yesterday and the fear of what Tomorrow might bring. These are God's Days -- leave them to Him.

-- Unknown, quoted by Doris W. Greig in “We Didn't Know They Were Angels”


#4609

BETWEEN THE ENDING AND THE BEGINNING

N0TE: As we end the year, maybe there is something -- a bad relationship, a sin, a habit, a desire, a self-centeredness, etc. -- that you would like to leave behind. I have adapted a prayer from Patricia Wilson that you might want to use on this final day of 2018. Fill in the blanks with something you would like to leave behind. -- DW

BETWEEN THE ENDING AND THE BEGINNING

I’ve tried everything, I can’t think of anything else to do, Lord. So I give this ____________ to You. I ask for nothing -- no special favors, no divine interventions, no sudden revelations. I simply place this in Your hands. And in giving it to You, I feel great relief. It is done. I have finally given up and accepted this ending. I know that from this moment on, my life will be different, and I accept this beginning as well.

Give me the strength to let all else go. Keep me from returning to this ____________. Remind me that I have given it to You.

Lead me to the higher ground, dear Jesus, where I can leave this ____________ behind. Fill me instead with Your peace and the knowledge that You are with me.

Be in this space between the ending and the beginning. It is a scary place for me as I begin to work through my life without this ____________ in it. Be between what was and what is to come.

Draw me closer to You in this time between the ending and the beginning. Let me see the place ahead not as a place to be feared but as a place You have prepared for me. 

-- Adapted from Patricia Wilson in “Quiet Spaces”