Give

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."  - Luke 6.38

This whole section of Jesus’ teaching is focused on getting our focus onto the needs of others and getting our hearts right in God’s service. He has been talking about a ‘negative’ when He said ‘don’t be so quick to judge’ and now He turns to a positive when He talks about giving.

‘Give,’ Jesus says, ‘and it will be given you.’ A lot of folks have taken this as a key verse to preach what we call the ‘prosperity gospel’ where giving is the way to get rich. Thousands of people have been deluded to supporting wealthy ‘ministries’ by a misapplication of this verse. That teaching goes totally against the bulk of scripture. It is a scam to make people and ‘ministries’ rich.

The message is clear though. We don’t give to get rich, we give then there is a need and we trust that God will take care of us. We are to be conduits that take what God gives us and then trust Him to continue to take care of us. What we give will be measured out back to us so that we can continue to take care of others. It means that we never have to worry about giving when we do it with the right attitude.

God gives to us, we give to others, and God will take care of us in ways we can’t even imagine.