To give is better than to receive.
We’ve heard it over and over, many times as motivation to be mature in financial matters.
The thing is, it’s true. The giver is filled with pleasure both before and after the opening of the gift. The giver gets to anticipate the joy of the receiver, the smiles, the cries of pleasure, and the expressions of appreciation showing how much the gift means.
One gift gives twice as much joy. It becomes a doubled blessing when it’s given away.
In Genesis 49, Jacob, now an old man, calls his sons together, and he gives them his blessing. However, in Verse 7, Simeon and his brother Levi are cursed instead for their anger and violent natures. Their blessing is ripped from them.
“I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.”
And yet, God refused to cast Simeon completely aside. He was still to receive an inheritance, although one shared within another’s bountiful reward!
Joshua 19:1 tells us:
“For the tribe of Simeon…their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah.”
A gift within a gift. A blessing within a blessing.
Judah didn’t go without, either. Verse 9 of this chapter tells us that the blessings of Judah’s inheritance were so great that it “was too much for them.”
A blessing shared became a blessing doubled. What Judah offered with open hands became a great kingdom that would last for hundreds of years.
When we reach out to those without hope, God sees our generosity. Sometimes we don’t have to reach very far. Our hands only have to stretch as far as our son or our daughter, our husband or our wife, our mother or our father.
Judah was Simeon’s brother. Judah didn’t focus on the needy on the other side of the world. He didn’t spend his time on mission trips in faraway lands. He saw the hurting brother at his doorstep, and he took him in, granted him favor, and his generosity doubled in the giving. It became “too much” for one tribe to contain, and it was just enough for two tribes when shared.
What is our doubled blessing? It’s the pleasant greeting upon awakening, the encouraging pat on the back, and the money invested in shared activities. It’s the time we give to our loved ones that comes back to us, flowing in a mighty river, too much for us to contain.
When we’re on the giving end, our blessing is so much better than when we receive. It will lift our spirits, fill our pocketbooks, and build a kingdom of strength that will shine with magnificence before the world.
If we truly want God to bless us, it’s time to start giving away the very thing we want to receive.
Copyright © 2016 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.H.26.15.vp.kjv