written by Daryl Fleming

I’m married to a “Giver”. It is one of his spiritual gifts. I am not supernaturally a giver. Not like him. He has very confidently given away our grocery money to someone that professed to be in need……and he does it without blinking. It use to upset me – but I have watched long enough to understand that he is living a spiritual principle that, like most spiritual principles, is completely topsy-turvy to our world’s earthy logic. Luke 6:38 (NLT) says, “If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving – large or small – it will be used to measure what is given back to you.” Super-natural, isn’t it? Givers don’t give with payback in mind. They give because they have the Divine in mind. And giving makes us more divine. God’s very existence is a giving existence. He never looks for payback. He pours rain on the just and the unjust with no discrimination. He just loves to give…….He isn’t worried about being ripped off. In fact, He usually is ripped off! But He still generously gives and gives! My husband tends to be divine like that too – and he does it cheerfully! (God loves a cheerful giver – it shows trust in Him). And I have learned from it.

It doesn’t matter what people do with our “giving” in their lives – we aren’t answering to them. We are answering to a heavenly principle with a Giving Personality ready to give back to us. We can give freely because He will be the one to measure it back. And, might I add, He is a haphazardly messy measurer! Pouring in way too much and over-flowing the cup! I think He sings while He does it!
The week my husband gave our grocery money to a soldier returning from war we ate quite well. Some folks had us over for dinner. The things in the pantry seemed to last longer. Someone took me to lunch….and we never told them the grocery money was “given away.”

Givers don’t just give money. They give themselves. They give their encouragement and belief in people. They give their time. My husband gives time he can’t afford to people that sometimes don’t seem to deserve it. And God shakes it down, presses it flat, so He can fill us up to the brim, and even to over-flowing, measuring it back to us in beautiful ways – just when we need it most. So many times people have given us their time and encouragement, their money or possessions, when we were in need……they delighted in giving back to a “giver”. I have hundreds of stories!

So, the bottom line is – never be afraid to generously give. Don’t look at it through the lens of our earthly economy. Look at it through the lens of Heaven. It involves trust – trust in the one who made the promise to Givers. And remember, giving without strings attached is powerful!

Works Cited:
All Scripture quoted is NLT