Today’s blog is right out of the Sunday school lesson I taught yesterday morning. The lesson was rooted in Acts 20:35―“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” After class a number of people suggested that the lesson would make a great sermon. If that is true, the highlights should make for a pretty good blog entry! I’ll let you decide.
Let me ask you a question: Where in the Gospels did Jesus say, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”? Well, if you were to conduct a word search, the correct answer is: none of them! Yet the entire tenor of the teaching of our Lord was rooted in this wonderful beatitude. Remember, all of the beatitudes of Jesus are not confined to the Sermon on the Mount. Paul suggests that this was part of the oral tradition by using the word “remember.” Furthermore, John made it clear that not all of what our Lord said and did is recorded in Scripture. “Jesus did many other things as well,” the apostle explained. “If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25).
When we fail to see the greater blessing in giving than receiving our, lives are marked by consumption rather than contribution . . . by getting rather than giving. To be sure, it is the nature of the child of God to give what I like to call the 4 T’s―Time, Talent, Treasure, and Truth (God’s Word). At this level of living we are ministers of God’s grace, providing an accurate reflection of Him. When we are more focused on giving than receiving, we become channels of grace in the lives of others.
So how are you doing in this area? Do you find greater blessing in giving or receiving? The poet wrote:
Not what I get, but what I give, this be the gauge by which I live. Not merely joys that come my way, but the help I give to those astray. Not the rewards of money or fame, But the load I lift in Jesus’ name. This is the pay at the end of the day, not what I keep, but what I give away.
Who in your life right now needs your time, talent, treasure, or the truth of God’s Word? We are never more like Jesus than when we are busily engaged in the act of giving. This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!
Grace for the Race 