Giving can be better than receiving
- Kyle Snyder: Live on Purpose
- December 6, 2019
- 1124
I am a giver by nature. I love giving back whenever I can; it makes me feel so good when I do it.
I feel like the world we live in is falling apart, and giving back is my way of feeling like I did my part in helping that world be just a little less chaotic. Plus giving back makes me feel good on the inside as well. I am just one person, and all of the problems in this world can’t be solved by just one person. I know I have a small part to play in helping out, and I need to do what I can to make it better. The worst thing is to do nothing and watch the world around me fall apart.
The Holmes County community is such a giving community. How many benefits do we have for people with health problems? Or if someone dies, we try to help the families out the best way we can. I know communities around this country also help out people in need, but I really wonder if they have the number of benefits like we have. Maybe they do, but what I am getting at is just how giving we are as a community.
That is what the spirit of Christmas is all about: giving back to people who are in need. It’s a time to count all the blessings God has so graciously bestowed on us. When I count all of my blessings, it makes me want to give back to other people. Just knowing how much I have been given — much more than I deserve — makes me want to give back even more. Even if I had half of what I have, I still would be living the good life.
Just look around at all the people who have absolutely nothing or almost nothing. The sad part is that most of them are much happier than people who have a lot. People who have been given a lot sometimes don’t care about people who don’t have anything when they should be more willing to freely give. Unfortunately we live in a country when the need to get more out-trumps the need to give.
Some people work and can barely make it. They can’t help others financially, but they can donate their time to help someone. Some can’t work at all. Do we not care about them? What if that was us?
Can we say today that we freely give as God has freely given to us?
Look at how many blessings God has given to you and me. Someone might say God has given them nothing, but this is out of an attitude that says, “Everything I have, I did on my own.” Only when we realize everything truly came from God and it is by his hand only we have what we have, then we should be more willing to give more.
Don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying only Christians give. I know a lot of non-Christians that give a boatload of time, money and other things out of the goodness of their hearts.
Even then, whether they know it or not, their willingness to give comes from God. One of Jesus’ teachings is on giving. Jesus often told people holding back from living fully for God to go and give all they have to the poor and to follow him. It’s not that having money is wrong; the wrong part is keeping more than we need and we’re never satisfied. I am not talking about saving or something like a 401(k). I am talking about having more than enough and then wanting more of it.
Giving can be what I call a good kind of selfishness because it makes us feel better about ourselves. Just knowing we are making someone’s life a little better makes us feel so good inside.
My wife and I are planning on attending a shoebox-packing party for Operation Christmas Child at our church. It is something we can do for a child we will most likely never meet on this side of heaven, but we will enjoy making his or her day this Christmas. Look for a way to bring joy to someone’s life this Christmas.