Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. Luke 6:38 (KJV).

REFLECT:
What does it mean to give unrestrained or without restraint? Simply put it means generosity. This means being a generous giver. Not capping a limit on our ability to give or be generous.

In the hardships of today’s world, we may say that it is quite difficult to remain generous in our giving. Most people hardly have enough to really sustain themselves and their families.

With such situations surrounding our circumstances, we may think it is a good enough reason to prevent us from being generous right? However, our Bible verse for today in —- Luke 6:38, does not seem to agree with this logic.

Our Bible verse rather tells us to give generously and to do this as a lifestyle without restraint. Moreso, we are not told to depend on our circumstances or allow them to dictate or influence our attitudes.

Even more fascinating about this Bible verse is that it comes across to us as a command, presenting a cause-and-effect scenario. This means that if we display a particular kind of behavior it would likely fetch us a particular kind of outcome. So, our actions will guarantee a corresponding consequence.

“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.” Luke 6:38 (KJV).

For instance, all the groups of people types Jesus mentioned in the ‘Beatitudes,’ in his sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, all had one common thread- they were seen as demonstrating unrestrained generosity. Hence what followed was a corresponding outcome for every action—‘ Blessed are the merciful—for they shall obtain mercy,’ etc.

There are many underlying reasons why we are commanded to give generously as Christians. Also, our motive for giving is very important. When God gives a straight command in the Bible there is a reason for this. Of course, we will be blessed when we obey God, but the blessing is not the focal reason.

God is not short on blessings, but He is short on sons and daughters. He wants everybody to experience how good a Father He is. He wants us to come to the knowledge of His love for us His creation so that mankind can come into a relationship with Him.

This is why He sent us His greatest gift and blessing, His son Jesus to die for our sins, so that we may also know the love of our Heavenly Father. Therefore, if God could send His only Son to die for us should tell us that blessing mankind can never be a problem for God.

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32 (KJV).

Thus, as believers in Christ, we who have been allowed to receive, and enjoy the gift of God’s grace have our work cut out for us. We have been given the responsibility to generously give back to the world.

To carry out this responsibility we have to give ourselves as instruments of reconciliation, reconciling the world unto Christ.

“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5: 18 – 19 (KJV).

Now putting all that has been discussed above in view, our generosity as children of God should be geared towards bringing others to the saving knowledge and redeeming power of Jesus Christ and to the Love, and goodness of God our Heavenly Father.

Furthermore, to achieve this call or assignment we must follow the Holy Spirit’s leading. The Holy Spirit will direct and instruct us on what and how to demonstrate generosity.

A lot of us think that generosity must be linked to money alone. This is where the error lies. Rather generosity can be expressed in different ways, it could be in the form of giving money, time, love, mercy, peace, righteousness, and different forms of help, etc.

Above all, the most important thing is that we must allow the Holy Spirit to lead in the modalities of how we express generosity. When we do this, we bring glory to God, and in turn, we receive blessings from God our Father.

Generosity is not the good works or badge of compassion we think we have earned, achieved or accomplished through the working of our abilities or strength, but how we allow God through the Holy Spirit groom and use us to enrich the kingdom of God by revealing to the world the love and goodness of God. This is what we refer to as unrestrained generosity, a generosity that is sustained by the unrestrained power and grace of God.

Ebimobo W. Obasi

PLEASE PRAY ALONG:

Allow Me to Live Generously.

FATHER GOD, You are my ultimate provider. And You have blessed me so that I can bless others! Please show me how, and who I can bless today. I want to love others by generously blessing the work they are doing. In JESUS MIGHTY NAME AMEN.