"I Would Rather Receive"

I have come to know that everything we do in this life is a heart issue. The Lord talks a lot in the bible about a hardened heart. A hardened heart is one that is not pliable, one that is hard to break through, one that shows no emotion. But a soft heart, one that is pliable can feel pain and give forgiveness. A soft heart is one that is humble, not proud, open to criticism and open to giving instead of receiving.

Luke 20:31 “…..It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Most of us have heard this verse but when I am full of myself I read this verse and think I would rather receive for awhile. I am tired. When is it my turn? Yesterday we had an “Event” at church. We were told to come with comfortable clothes and that was all the direction we received. When we got to church the pastor said, OK folks today we are going to the gas station up the street. We are going to give $ 25.00 of gas to 150 cars that come through. So we had people break into groups that were going to pump gas, ones that would do windows and ones that would tell what pump to activate. Before we went our pastor prayed that the Lord would bring people to us that needed to see that our God is faithful.”

I said to Julie going up “I wonder if we can fill our tank up too?” Now that was a hardened heart. But God is in the heart changing business. Amen!! When you do things for others drastic changes take place in your heart. I was not prepared for the heart surgery that was about to come. One woman in a van pulled up to our spot and she opened her door as her window would not come down. Hey, our car does that tooJ Some started pumping gas and cleaning her windows so I went over to speak to her. As I started to grab the handle on her door she opened it first. All of a sudden I was face to face with a young woman whose eyes had turned red and the tears started to flow and would not stop. She grabbed me, not just hugged me but grabbed me as though it was all she could do to stand. She said “You don’t know what this means to me. I have 4 kids and I have no money. Our gas light came on and I saw your sign for free gas.” She told me more of her story of pain, loss and no hope and then hugged me again. I looked in her car and all I could see were the remnants of what a car with 4 kids looks like. She was on empty physically, spiritually and emotionally. But God knew didn’t He folks?

How arrogant was it for me to joke about us filling our tank when this woman needed HELP. To give her gas, a hug and encouragement was 1,000 times better than me receiving free gas for a year. I had many more stories of Gods divine intervention yesterday but time won’t allow me to get into all of them. Just know that when we get out of our comfort zone to give WITHOUT EXPECTING ANYTHING IN RETURN God gives us more than we ever think we are giving. Thank you Renaissance Bible for coming up with an “Event” that strangely changed my heart more than the hearts we were going to help. Try it today. You may get a lump in your throat and you may feel a little uneasy to give but God has called us to do this for a reason. Actions speak louder than any words we could do. When you truly give with a joyful heart miracles happen. I will be forever changed by what I saw in people’s eyes and hearts yesterday.

OK I get it; yes “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Have a great day today and look for an opportunity to give.

Brad