The Giver
- Joel Kimpela
- Mar 10, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 1, 2021
In his sermon on the mount, Jesus teaches us how we should live. You’ll notice his message is concise and to the point. For example he says things like “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you, do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6) and a whole lot more! But then he arrives at giving. To this he says:
“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38)
It is interesting that this is the only part of his sermon where Jesus expands on how we should live. Jesus could have easily stopped at “Give and it will be given to you,” but instead he broadens the scope of giving and shares with us the blessing we receive. I think he does this because giving is important to him. Jesus furthers his message by telling us that “It is more blessed to give than to receive”(Acts 20:25). In fact it has been scientifically proven that giving “satisfies our most essential self, increases our happiness and makes us feel more alive” (Formsma). I don’t know about you, but when Jesus and science agree on the same topic, I think it’s worth listening. It is a blessing to give and it is a blessing to receive. Let me share two testimonies with you on how I have been on both ends of this spectrum.
Testimony #1:
The statistics of homelessness in D.C is staggering. It is impossible to drive around The District and not find someone in dire need of food, shelter or money. We are living in a time where we are asked to social distance but those who experience homelessness have been socially distanced way before Covid started. Last year, I felt like God was trying to bring this to my attention. Yet, there were countless times I ignored this prompting from the Holy Spirit and decided to look the other way. I even remember walking out of a bank once and a woman asked me for change. I told her "I don't have any money.” Can you believe it! I just walked out of a bank, of course I had money. Immediately after walking away I felt the conviction in my heart. On top of the many others I have overlooked and ignored, the guilt piled on. But thank God for second, third and fourth chances. A couple days later I ran into another homeless woman who asked me to purchase lunch for her and a friend. This was definitely God tugging at my heart again. So I obeyed. I bought lunch for the woman and her friend. You could see the joy on her face as she piled loads of food onto her plate from the buffet line. We reached the cash register and the total amount surpassed what I had in mind. But I continued to obey. Surely, I had a good excuse for my wife when she saw the credit card statement. We left the restaurant and the woman thanked me with all her heart and said that she would be praying for me. Later that evening, I unexpectedly received a call from my boss saying they wanted to give me a promotion and raise.
Coincidence? I think not. God wants to bless beyond what we can measure but oftentimes our own fears and reservations stand in the way of the blessing. In my own case, I continued to put off God’s tug on my heart to give, thus putting off the blessing he had in store for me. God will bless us in proportion to how we give. However, I want to be cautious here and state, we do not give to receive. We give out of the abundance and joy of our heart. We give because we realize God has given us so much. We give to be a blessing to others. The Apostle Paul tells us to “give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:27). We shouldn’t have any ulterior motives for giving. God blesses us how he chooses to bless us. At the end of the day he knows our heart and our motives.
Testimony #2:
I hate asking for help but last month I had to put my pride aside. My wife and I are expecting our baby girl in a few months and unfortunately due to Covid we did not plan a baby shower. Last month my sister in law recommended we share the news on social media in hopes our friends and family would help us shower our baby girl. This was hard to do but I swallowed my pride and submitted the post. Hours later we were overwhelmed by the many gifts we received! Our front door started piling up with amazon packages from people that we hadn’t spoken to in years. We were blessed to be on the receiving end of everyone’s generosity.
God’s economy isn’t like our economy. In God’s economy giving is the greatest wealth. And giving is much more than giving our money. There are other ways to give. We can give our time, forgiveness, creativity, encouragement, trust, respect, and compassion. The greatest gift given to humanity had nothing to do with money. It had everything thing to do with love:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”-John 3:16
God is the great giver. He is the giver of all things. James 1:17 tells us that “every good and perfect gift is from above.” Our life, work, health, and wealth all come from God. So then how do we go about showing thanks for all these things? We bless others. We are blessed so that we can be a blessing. I encourage us to practice giving regularly to see how our lives change and the lives of people around us.
Formsma, Brad. I Like Giving, WaterBrook Press, 2014.
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