Are you a selfish giver? Do you give and give, but don’t like to receive? If so, you are a selfish giver? How can you say that, you might add? Read on and I’ll show you what I am talking about. The Selfish Giver!

Acts 20:35 “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive”

In this passage, the Lord didn’t mean that we shouldn’t receive. In fact, being unable to receive can be a symptom of pride. It can also be a feeling of owing someone something if we receive from them. This is not true. When we fully understand the concept of giving and receiving we will be free to enjoy its rewards. Giving and receiving is a cycle. What happens with cycles? They must be complete in order to work. If we give something, the Word says that we will receive. What if we choose not to receive because of the source of the giving? We not only don’t receive, but we keep the giver from receiving a blessing also. That is the way it works. Are we a selfish giver?

Let’s look at the story with Elijah and the widow.

1 Kings 17: 9-14 “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

“As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’ “

What would we do if a poor person comes up to us to give us something? Would we take it and bless them? Would we look at them and think that they need it more than we do? This is exactly what I am talking about. The Lord had purposed to help this widow lady and her son. He wanted to bless her. She would have to step out in faith to give so that she would be blessed. Elijah could have stopped the blessing. Will we dare to stop someone else from receiving by refusing to receive from them? I pray that we won’t. I pray that we are humble enough to complete the cycle of giving. Would you want someone else to stand in your way of receiving a blessing from the Lord. Check out the blessing this widow lady received. Not only did she have enough to eat during the whole time of the famine, but her son was raised from the dead at a later date.

Can we see the magnitude of completing the cycle? Do we judge when others take from those less fortunate because they have been asked to do so? Next time we see this, we need to thank the Lord and ask Him to make sure they receive an awesome blessing. Give and receive and help others to do the same. Selfish giving! I don’t think so!

I’ll be sharing, at a later time, a company that operates on this principle. It was founded and is being overseen by the Lord. It is the only large corporation I know of, that operates on godly principles and at the command of the Lord. Keep checking back for this post and where to go to find out more. May the Lord bless you abundantly and help you walk the path He has for you. Bless you.

Joseph