When you take what you have—money, time, love—and you put it in the hands of God, it can’t help but multiply.
Struggling to love? Feel like you don’t have much? Start giving away what you do have. Be generous and put it in God’s hands. Give away your time. Give away your money. Give away your connections. Give away your life.
Let It Go
When you gather bread and hold onto it, the bread gets moldy after a while. Just ask the Israelites what happened when they tried to do that with the bread God gave them. The same happens when you hoard what you have. It begins to mold and stink up your life.
Ever met someone who holds onto all their money, their time, their possessions? Their life begins to stink pretty fast. Arrogance sets in. They become defensive of everything and obsessed with the idea that “everyone is just out for their money,” which might be true at times. A blessing becomes a curse.
But when you start giving things away, somehow, someway, things will begin to multiply, or maybe you’ll just realize that you already had plenty to start with. Plenty, not just for yourself, but also for others. All of a sudden, love will start flowing into every other part of your life.
I think that inside of us, we want to be generous, but we don’t know where to start. We want to do good. We want to be a blessing. But how?
I think that inside of us, we want to be generous, but we don’t know where to start.
Get Practical
Have some extra cash this month? Buy dinner for a young family when you’re out to eat.
Not sure what to do with your extra time on Tuesday nights? Mow the lawn for your neighbor (maybe ask first!) Or shovel their snow. Offer to babysit for a couple you know would love a date night. Find a car for someone who needs one to get to work. Go to a nursing home and ask if there’s someone who needs a visitor. Put money in your pocket this week and give it away.
Bake cookies for your neighbor. See a specific need and fill it. Start regularly giving to your church. Give an outrageously large tip to the person who cleans your room next time you’re at a hotel. Get flowers for someone going through a trial. Volunteer your skills at a school or a nonprofit in town.
Figure out what you’ve been generously given—no matter how small—and start giving it away.
We all have something to contribute. Maybe for you it’s money. Maybe time. Maybe extra zucchini from the garden (those things take over!). The point is that you have more than you need, so give to someone who doesn’t have enough.
It Was Never Yours
Why give away what you’ve worked so hard to have in the first place? Because all that we have was never ours. Everything was given to us by someone else in the past – and by God.
One of the greatest moments in one’s life is when they discover that the words of Jesus are true: it’s greater to give than it is to receive. This is true of love. It’s also true of giving money. We are most like Jesus when we are giving.
When we realize that nothing we have was ever truly ours, it becomes easy to be generous. It’s like giving away someone else’s riches. The more you give, the easier it will become. Waiting for someone to ask you to give? I just did!
It Will Multiply
Recently, I asked a good friend named Joy about her life and the generosity that flows throughout every part of what she does. She shared that at first, giving was hard for her.
“It goes against the way we’re wired,” she said. “We’ve earned it. I’ve earned it, so it should be mine to keep, right? But after you start giving, it becomes contagious. It becomes a way of living, and I can’t imagine anything different. I call it the road to happiness.”
I want to be on that road to happiness, don’t you?
Though the generosity of my friend Joy may seem crazy or impossible for us to do, it’s really not. Jesus would say it should be the norm. Start with something small. Start by simply giving of what you already have, place it in God’s hands, and watch to see him work. When we do, I know that we too will begin to walk that road to happiness that Joy so often talks about.
Love multiplies for the good of others.
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