Day 8: Jesus Giving

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35

76% of the all-time top movies feature a life-or-death situation. Screenplay writer Jeffery Schechter makes a case that it’s 100% that feature a life-or-death problem. Some are just played out in a subtler way. If actual death cannot be played out (for example, a love story), screenplay writers invent a figurative death. But this symbolic death has to be so strong that it might as well be actual death. It’s what the movie hinges on.

Perhaps that’s why the Bible is the most incredible story ever told. It’s about life and death. Nothing could be more significant than the stakes that are in the Bible.

The epic story of Jesus is the ultimate best-selling story of all time. No one understands genuine, sacrificial, all-in giving like Jesus when it comes to giving.

Not only did Jesus give His life, but He spent a lot of time talking about giving. He offered more wisdom and said more about money than any other subject besides the “Kingdom of God.” Jesus talked more about money than He did love, even more than Heaven and Hell combined. 11 of His 39 parables are about finances.

Why would Jesus talk so much about money? Because money can be a magnifying glass in our lives. Jesus even says in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Here’s the thing about money, though. It’s not evil. It is by definition amoral. The passage often gets misquoted to say, “Money is the root of all evil.” But what Paul said to his protégé Timothy are these words: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.”

Loving money, particularly as it becomes an idol, brings greed. When we live our lives constantly for more, more, and more, we begin to stop trusting in a rich God who will provide for us. We start taking things into our own hands and believing that our wealth, or riches, is due to our work ethics or talents.

Perhaps no one will die if you don’t give, but your life was saved because Jesus gave His own life. It’s essential to set up habits in your life, like tithing (giving 10% of your income), but giving is more than that. Giving allows us to reflect God to a world that needs to see Him, and it gives us a chance to trust in His provision.

Jesus didn’t stop at 10%. He gave us 100%. When you give, you are just continuing the blockbuster hit that Jesus began! Our gratitude for what God has done leads us to be generous.

Challenge

Make a list of the top 10 best things you’ve received. If you can, write an approximate date of when you got them. Now, draw a dash next to them. One day, that dash will have an end date. All of our gifts will one day no longer be ours. Maybe your health will fail, or a spouse will pass away, it may not be safe to travel anymore, or it will come time to downsize from your dream home. Everything has an end date except Jesus. That is the only thing that you will have forever and ever. Take some time to be grateful for the enteral life you’ve been given.