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Seeking the perspective of Jesus

"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 NIV

Several years ago I contracted the building of a house. It was my first experience with building a house, so I had a lot to learn. One lesson had to do with getting water from a well that had been drilled on the property to the house and providing enough water to service all the needs of the house. Now most of you “Urbanites” may not relate to the need to have water well dug for your home. But, you will relate to the truth of how my illustration will connect to our capacity to receive based on our capacity in giving. So, hang in there with me as I make my point.

The well driller I contracted drilled a deep, four-inch well for us. This size of well is a large capacity for a private residence. It would provide plenty of water for all our needs. Since the house would have four bedrooms, three bathrooms, washing machines, hot water heaters, etc, our family of five people would need a great water capacity. The well digger did a great job for us. However, this is where my lesson comes in, as the plumber who connected the house to the well, used only a one-inch pipeline. Now, form a mental picture in your mind as you see all those showers, dishwashers, toilets, hot-water heater and such being used at the same time. You can guess what happened? We did not get enough water into the house to support our needs, even though there was plenty of water at the wellhead that was ready to serve us. The pipe going into the house was restricting the water that could be available for us. There was only one thing we could do in order to correct the problem. We had to expand the capacity of the pipe that went from the well to the house, for it was holding back all that wonderful water that would bless our life. What’s my point?

Lately, I’ve been “hearing” God’s voice giving me a solution to a recent challenge. The challenge deals with to either give grace or give justice to someone. Do I respond to a man’s immature words and actions and give to him what he deserves, which is a healthy rebuke, or do I respond to him by giving him what God deserves from me? As I have thought and prayed through the challenge, I’ve gotten God’s answer. It didn’t make sense to me until it made its way from my mind to my heart, and then I connected the truth. You’ll likely not see the connection at first until you process it as did. So, stay with me and allow me to connect all the dots.

The words I felt spoken to my heart were: “My grace is sufficient for you.” I didn’t see how these words related to my challenge, so I had to work through it. Now understand, God’s grace to me is on my mind a lot lately. I am beginning to live with a constant awareness of it. I understand more than ever before how His grace has been reforming this man damaged by life, bad choices, bad behavior and hurt that I have brought to others and myself. I am seeing God’s grace through deeply appreciative eyes as never before, for He loves me beyond my capacity to understand, my capacity to appreciate and my present capacity to receive. I see the sufficiency of God’s grace as a resource that will help me deal with any problem I will ever face, and I just know that if the demand requires it, a greater capacity of grace will be given to me and more of His grace I will receive. But, can I receive more, if I have a restriction? Will I be able to receive more of that wonderful grace from my King, if my capacity to receive is limited by something I am doing or not doing? Can there be a similar restriction that limits God’s blessings to me, as that one-inch water line limited the great capacity of water that was needed for my family and me? I believe there can be restrictions as such, and the Master Plumber wants to do something about it by expanding our capacity to receive more of His blessings. How does He do it? He tells us how in the verse above.

The referenced passage points to a capacity for us to receive based on our capacity in giving. For instance, when we give forgiveness we receive forgiveness. When we give of our time, money, service, and yes, even the grace we have received from God, we will receive more of it in return. Much more! Understand that this verse is not an instruction to us for tit-for-tat behavior toward other people and legalistic guidelines with having to do something in order to receive from God. Rather, it is our Master Plumber’s instructions as to how to expand our capacity to receive more of his tremendous blessings with which He wants to bless us. However, we must be made aware that we can have restrictions to God’s blessings. For example, If we do not tithe or share generously from out material possessions, God’s financial blessings for us could be restricted. Or if we have withheld forgiveness from someone, we could be restricting our own self-forgiveness. Another example could be that we are restricting our own peace of mind because we have not sought to be a peacemaker. There are many examples that I could come up with, and you have some of your own. Take the time to think and pray through some of your own, for you may have something that God wants to speak to you about that is keeping Him from blessing you?

So, how does God stretch our capacity to receive more of His blessings? He challenges us with a test that puts a greater demand on us, just like my family had a greater demand that needed more water in the house. When the test comes, as it did with the man I mentioned in my example, God is in essence asking us, “Will you give of yourself so that I can give back to you in even greater measure?” When we are willing to give that which we require our self to another person, then we expand our capacity to receive more from God. What are the results when we connect the dots with giving and receiving? We can answer the question as to whether God’s grace will be there for us in our hour of need with a confident “YES!” for our pipeline is wide open and un-restricted. God wants this confidence in us even more than we want it for our self. He wants us to be absolutely assured that He will help us anytime we need Him, and His abilities are beyond anything we could comprehend. But, we must understand that we have a part to play in receiving His help by not allowing those restrictions I speak of.

When God spoke to my heart the words, “My grace is sufficient for you,” after I asked Him how to respond to the man who insulted me, I connected the giving and receiving dynamic to the situation. Behind His simple words I heard more spoken to my heart:

“My son, will you give that which I have given to you? Sure, you have every right to speak justly to this man and his actions would demand it, if you operate by standards other than Mine? If you want to operate under the rules of man, then go ahead and speak your mind? You might have momentary gratification when you respond in a like manner to him. But, know this, in responding in a like manner, you will be maintaining a limitation to receive more of My grace to you. Which do you want the most, more of Me or more justice toward the man? You choose, for in the same manner you give, you will receive?”

When I connected the dots, the choice became simple, and as soon as I decided to respond to the challenge by not going back to the man to speak a harsh rebuke but instead, passed grace over it, a relief and a peace fell over me to affirm that the right choice had been made. The Master Plumber had shown me how to expand my capacity to receive more of His grace, because I simply gave that which He has given to me. It stretched me, but that is what an enlarged capacity to receive requires, for it is just the basic spiritual rules of supply and demand.

“Knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.” Ephesians 6:8 NASB