“One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.”
Proverbs 11:24
When Grace Gathering started the For the Sake of Others journey in 2022 Marissa, my wife, and I had some discussions about what we wanted our faith and sight portions to be. In our initial discussions we were on the same page for our sight portion, but we had different values in mind for the faith portion. We ended up choosing the higher value and set up monthly payments that would get us to the amount by the end of the eighteen months.
We knew that it would stretch us beyond what we were comfortable with at the time, but we felt a spiritual peace with the decision. Within a couple of months, we received an unexpected out-of-cycle bonus and an unexplained raise. The bonus and raise matched our sight and faith portions within two percent!
When I asked my boss about the raise, he said that he did not initiate it and did not know what the reason was. Up to that point, we had heard stories of God providing in ways like that but had not experienced it for ourselves at that level. This not only encouraged us in the moment, but it also increased our faith and trust in God to do more of the same in our lives going forward.
The purpose of that story is not to say that we should give so that we might get more of that same thing in return. It’s actually quite different in God’s Kingdom; we give because God has already given us everything. I have come to believe that until we recognize and experience any part of God’s holy character that we want to imitate (generosity, love, compassion, faithfulness, etc.), we will not be able to pass it on to others.
Many of us have heard 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” With that thought in mind, I also believe that we give because He first gave Himself to and for us.
In this “season of giving,” I challenge you to spend time thinking about the spiritual gift of giving. This gift, through the power of the Holy Spirit, helps us to recognize God’s blessings over us and respond to those blessings by sacrificially giving away our resources without expecting anything of earthly value in return.
A prayer for today:
Father, what does it look like for me to give freely? What time, talent, and treasures have you given me that I can share with others? Holy Spirit, guide me and strengthen me as I seek to share these things with others who need Your love. Jesus, thank you for giving your life to us as a gift so that we might be in relationship with you.
Ryan Perkins was born and raised in New Haven. He started going to youth group at Grace Gathering in 2012. He, and his wife Marissa have been attending New Grace since they moved back to Fort Wayne in 2020. Ryan currently works as a Mechanical Engineer, and Marissa is a Physician Assistant.
