Thought for the Day: Give, Give, Givers

Have you ever heard it said, "The more you give away, the more that will be returned to you"?

It's a lovely, well-intended, formula for blessings; give, give, give and you'll receive, receive, receive. But here we are left with a generation and a culture of Give, Give, Givers who are suffocating at the bottom of the heap of obligations and needs and who are scraping the bottom of their gift barrel and who are unable to receive. We have churches full of unbeknownced people suffering from compassion fatigue, churches full of empty people while the demands keep rising; stuck in a faulty system of increased demand with dwindling supply.

Here's what we do: we believe that the more we given the more we will receive so we give, give, give until we are empty and then we curse God in our despairing need. But everything is so clear, so easy: Place (blank) here and you will receive. But where do we receive from? Some magic fairy giving shoot that comes to us? When does it come? At what point does it come to restock? Do we have to tell it or does it know in it's omniscient fairyness? And if it does, then why are so many people empty or is the magic fairy giving shoot backed up on orders?

Or is the whole thing broken and incomplete?

Do we love because He first loved us or do we love Him so that He'll love us. Does forgiveness proceed repentance or do we repent in order to be forgiven? Does grace proceed our response or does our response cue grace? Your beliefs will impact your pattern of giving and its order.

We are so invested in the need, in the output, when perhaps we are designed to be invested in the source. Perhaps we are to be in the well that never runs dry. Perhaps we are to be soaking in the Water that will never cause us to go thirsty and feeding on the Bread that ensures we'll never go hungry.

I know there are needs, but if we don't recognize our great need then what are we really giving?

Receive.

Just a thought.