"Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back."
Lk.6:38
Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount. Generosity strikes at the heart of what it means to live a Christian life.
Some call this verse the Sermon on the Amount. Of course, it's not just referring to the giving of money. It can be time, talents, anything that is of value to me and to the recipient. However, my attitude to giving money says a lot about how seriously I take what Jesus is saying here.
My wife is great at stuffing $20.00 notes into the letterboxes of needy families. I find that hard. Yet, if I believe in what Jesus says, what I give is the measure of what I will get and get back generously.
I love the story of Scrooge in Dickens's Christmas Carol. From a miserly, tight-fisted, mean old man he is transformed into a "letterbox stuffer" in the extreme. From a sour old grump he becomes a giggling, joyous child as he buys the largest Christmas goose in the shop to secretly gift to Bob Crachit and his family.
Joy. Here is the immediate fruit of generosity. What can I give to another today? I will know I have found it and given it when joy overtakes me.
Lord Jesus, you know how tight-fisted I can be. Help me become a joyous giver today that I may become an authentic witness of you.
Little Flower, please pray for me.
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