As a child I was fascinated with boomerangs. These curved, flat pieces of wood when thrown correctly somehow return to their point of origin. The Australian Aborigines used them for hunting. There is, in God’s economy, a boomerang effect—a law of reciprocity: you reap what you sow…and you eat what you reap.
What you send out has a way of coming back to you. It is no Secret, as the popular, but misguided book suggests; it is something God has designed. And it works both positively and negatively—blessings and curses. A sampling of teachings from the Bible reveals God’s heart and mind:
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8)
“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.” (2 Thessalonians 1:6)
"Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:37-38)
Our motivation is paramount: we’re not to give in hopes of what we might get in return. It’s not about what we get, but what we give. God wants us to be givers—and givers and good things. It’s not about giving in order to get a blessing for yourself in return, but simply to be a blessing to someone else.
It is God’s nature to give—He is a giving God—“For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but will have eternal life.” (John 3:16) We give because God is a giver and He wants us to be like Him--to reflect His glory.
God is the Source of our blessings. “Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:16-17)
It’s easy to be deceived into thinking that we are the source of our own blessings. It is also easy to be deceived into giving for the wrong reasons.
What, of value, have you given away today? Why did you give it? God’s blessings have a built in boomerang effect, if our hearts are in the right place. To whom will you be a blessing today?
~ Father, help me to give like you do…and for the right reasons; not for what I may get in return, but just to pass along the blessings that you’ve showered upon me. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Motivation speaks loudly. I think of the widow and the Pharisees. The Pharisees "followed the law," and yet Jesus said they gave nothing. The widow gave only little, but she gave it all. I pray that I will be the widow one day--willing to give all for God's sake! His name is greater than the world's! He is the living, all-powerful God! I pray one day, the world wakes to this news and is willing to give (not out of humanism, but for the sake of God's blessings He has already give)
Post a Comment