Give a Little

On December 21, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 6: 38

Give, and it will be given to you.

Sometimes I believe everything important can be learned from children’s shows. In fact, I am not sure why we don’t express the same life values in adult programming. I found this verse in Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It is the story of the Christmas Spirit, the story of giving.

Santa, Kris Kringle, is confronted by many ornery characters in the story. As he traverses the mountain between Kringle Village and Somber Town, where he intends to deliver toys, he is accosted by a mean wizard known as Winter Warlock. Santa, however, knows how to unlock even the coldest heart, with a gift. The simple act of giving a toy to the evil wizard melts his frozen heart. Winter then becomes good and a lifelong friend and companion of the Kringles.

In town, Santa explains to the children that whatever you wish to get, you must first give. If you want a little love, give a little love. He sings, “Whenever you take, give a little back.” Oh that we actually taught our children this important lesson. Even better, that we should not only be reminded of it ourselves but also embrace the philosophy. The Living Bible rendition of today’s verse is, “For if you give, you will get!” Pretty simple, huh?

Santa wins over Jessica with a gift and later she becomes Mrs. Santa Claus. He built a culture of giving but in his version, people give back. We live in a culture where people take and take. There seems to be little charity among us. We walk by the Salvation Army kettles like they are an annoyance to us rather than allowing ourselves to be motivated to support a group who is doing the work of helping others. This is not our essential nature though. It is not who we are. We are kind and generous in our union with Christ. We just allow the culture and our schedules to poison our attitudes.

So, here is my Christmas wish for you. Go get the collection of old-time Christmas animated classics. Get a big bowl of popcorn and watch them with your loved ones. Listen and watch for the message of Christ and let it melt you. Allow your love and generosity to bob to the surface. Let your tenderness show and let it have its say. I wish for you to receive greatly but I know that you must give if you want to get. Let Jesus fill your heart and bless you abundantly. That is my wish for you, immeasurable abundance of Christ in you and with you. Merry Christmas!

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Economic Reality

On May 26, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Philippians 4: 19


And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
This verse is just two verses after yesterday’s verse about the gifts of the Philippians accruing to their own account. Here Paul delivers the punch line. Because they, the Philippians, met the needs of the ministry, God was obligated to meet all of their needs. We really need to learn that God moves resources all over the world according to this principle. He multiplies seed sown. This is the principle we all need to adopt in our finances. This is the way God set up the earth to work. We have turned it on its head and operated our economy according to all we can get. That is just the opposite of the economic principles God established in the earth in the beginning. One can see the righteousness in God’s way and the greed in the other way. It is no wonder our economy has collapsed around our ears. It was never meant to work that way. God is your source and your provider and he wants to see you well cared for. He does that by multiplying your seed so for goodness sake, sow some good seed today.
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Good Measure

On May 13, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 6: 38

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap.
For years I didn’t really understand what this scripture was trying to get over to us. I understand give and it will be given to you. That is a clear direction from God concerning being generous in our giving to others. What is all of that other language for though? We do not have represented here a simple one to one ratio vis-a- vis giving and receiving. Rather, God is telling us that when we give, he gives back a vastly multiplied amount. It was one day when I was filling a container with a dry ingredient that this verse’s meaning became evident to me. As I poured my dry product into the container it began to fill while I still had more to fit into the container. So, I started tapping the container on the counter causing the substance to pack more compactly. Doing this allowed me to put much more substance into the container. Then I realized that is what “pressed down” and “shaken together” is all about. Maybe you could also press the dry material down with some sort of tamping tool so that you can fit more into the vessel. 

You see, God does not just give back to you in equal measure. He gives back an ample supply. He presses down and shakes down the substance so that he can get more into the container. And even then, he still runs the container over from his generous giving. He causes all things to come to you in abundance so that you cannot even contain it all. Well, good! Then you can take the overflow and give it away. But have plenty of pots and canisters available when you do because he is going to give back to you again, good measure!

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