Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. - Luke 6:38
My dear mother was one of the most generous, kind-hearted people that I have ever known. Many were the times as a young boy growing up that I would see my mother go into her purse and literally give the last bit of money that she had to someone in need. On several occasions I would ask her why she gave away money that she needed for her own needs and her reply would always be the same, “Don’t worry about me! I will be alright” Amazingly, even though she had given her last to help someone else, I can never remember a time when my mother did not have the monetary means to be able to take care of those things that she needed to take care of. She would always find money in one of her coat pockets or one of her old purses in her closet. On several occasions, after spending all that she had on groceries for her family, upon returning to her car and opening the car door, she would find five or ten dollars on the ground as if someone had placed it there for her to find.
There were other times when people would ask my mother for money, not because they really needed it, but as a test of my mother’s Christian character to see if she would give it to them. Of course, my mother being the type of person that she was, would always give them the money. I questioned her about this as well, and her response was the same as always, “Don’t worry about me!! I will be alright.” And somehow she always was. I would argue that the people she gave her money to were never going to pay her back, but that never seemed to matter to her. There was someone in need, regardless if the need were real or not, and she had done her Christian duty by helping them. Not only was my mother a generous giver of money, but many were the times when she would invite one of the neighborhood kids in to have something to eat, or she would offer one of them a cool drink on a hot summer’s day. It is no wonder that so many people lovingly referred to her as “mom”, as that is exactly what she was to so many people.
My mother was a joyful giver and from her generosity and righteous example, I have come to understand that joyful giving benefits both the giver and the receiver alike. I have also learned that the basic principle behind giving is that one’s return is determined by his investment. If he invests little, he will receive little in return. Luke teaches us this valuable lesson as recorded in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
Because of my mother’s loving, caring, giving nature, she always found that she was blessed in ways that she never could have imagined. She never had a lot of money or sustenance to speak of, but she was blessed to always have enough and some to spare to give to another. Because she had been given much, she knew that she too must give.
Perhaps in her mind she asked herself the same question that King Benjamin asks in his powerful sermon as recorded in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 4:19, “For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?” King Benjamin continues in verses 20 and 21 by saying, “And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy. And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.” And in verse 24 he exhorts us, “And again, I say unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give.” And so, perhaps in all of her giving to others, my mother realized that she could not stand idly by and see another’s lack and not share some of that which she had been given.
In Proverbs 11:24 we read, “There is that scatterth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” The word “scattereth” in this verse means to be generous in your giving. Generous giving can lead to prosperity, but miserliness can lead to poverty. Our Lord taught His disciples in Acts 20:35 that “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The joy is in the giving – giving of our money, our time, our talents, our abilities – in order to help others in any way that we can.
However, we should not give simply for the sake of giving or for the purpose of gaining recognition from our fellowman. For if we give only to gain recognition and favor of our fellowman, then we have received all the reward that we shall ever receive for our acts. True giving is done in the spirit of humility and love. It is not something that is done out of obligation nor guilt, but rather it is genuine – it comes from the heart. On the subject of giving, President Marion G. Romney once said, “Only by voluntary giving, out of abundant love for his neighbor, can one develop the charity characterized by Mormon as the “pure love of Christ” (Ensign, November 1981, pp. 92-93). In Moroni 7:47 we are counseled that “charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.” In our daily lives we must come to realize that when we give out of love to our “neighbor”, we are in reality giving to our Heavenly Father. Hear the Savior’s words in Matthew 25:40 as he teaches us “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Speaking further on the subject of giving, President Marion G. Romney said, “There is an interdependence between those who have and those who have not. The process of giving exalts the poor and humbles the rich. In the process, both are sanctified. The poor, released from the bondage and limitations of poverty, are enabled as free men to rise to their full potential, both temporally and spiritually. The rich, by imparting their surplus, participate in the eternal principle of giving. Once a person has been made whole or self-reliant, he reaches out to others, and the cycle repeats” (Ensign, November 1982, p.93).
What type of giver does God love? He loves a cheerful giver as we are taught in 2 Corinthians 9:7. God loves the giver that has a willing heart and a desire to give of that which he has to share with others. Paul, in this verse, is not so much interested in the amount of the Corinthians’ money. For that matter, God is not so much interested in the amount of money that we possess either as the passage in Proverbs 22:9 indicates: “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.” The expression “hath a bountiful eye” literally means “he that is generous”. In Proverbs 19:7 we read, “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” Again we see that the joy is in the giving, but let us keep in mind that when we speak of giving, we are speaking of more than giving money, we are speaking of imparting anything that we have been blessed with to help others.
The Greek word that is used for “cheerful” in 2 Corinthians 9:7 is the word HILAROS – propitious, signifies the readiness of mind, that joyfulness, which is prompt to do anything: hence, cheerful. This is the same root word from which we get our English word “hilarious”. This is not to signify that giving is a joke. It is serious business, but at the same time, it is a delightful experience.
In closing, let us be reminded of the words of President Spencer W. Kimball on this matter of giving when he said, “Never did the Savior give in expectation. I know of no case in his life in which there was an exchange. He was always the giver, seldom the recipient. Never did he give shoes, horse, or a vehicle; never did he give perfume, a shirt, or a fir wrap. His gifts were of such nature that the recipient could hardly exchange or return the value. His gifts were opportunity to the downtrodden, freedom to the oppressed, light in the darkness, forgiveness to the repentant, hope to the despairing. His friends gave him shelter, food, and love. He gave them of himself, his love, his service, his life. The wise men brought him gold and frankincense. He gave them and all their fellow mortals resurrection, salvation, and eternal life. We should strive to give as he gave. To give of one self is a holy gift” (The Wondrous Gift, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978, p.2).
These humble thoughts I leave with you this day in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
