Four, Five

John 3:¹⁶ “For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life.” (The Voice, emphasis added).

We will pick up today’s devotional from where we left off yesterday. Acts 20:³⁵ “…remembering the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.’” (GNT, emphasis added). Jesus is saying you should feel happier when you are the one sending gifts to others than when you are receiving them from others. Now think about it, will you really feel happier if you gift someone five million naira? Yet Jesus says there is more happiness in it. So, why don’t you feel happier? The reason is simple, you are just beginning.

It is like you are priming a pump. In the beginning, you will get nothing. But after a while, you start getting some dirty water. And after that, you will start getting real clean fresh water. What I am saying is this, when you become really generous, your giving becomes really joyful. So, you become happier giving. Do not get me wrong, you are still happy to receive but you are actually happier giving. So, if you find out that you are sad, get into giving. If you find out that you have unpredictable moods, just get into giving. Bless someone, make someone happy. Get into it and you will see that the therapy you need is the “Giving Therapy” – just make other people happy.

The fifth of nine rewards: God Promises Your Influence Will Increase. Now this is huge! If you are generous God promises that your influence will increase. Proverbs 11:²⁴ “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.” (MSG, emphasis added). If you want your world to get larger, learn to be generous. God teaching me generosity in my life actually expanded my influence into areas, places, countries, and spheres I never thought I could be just because of my generosity. Your generosity opens doors for you. The Bible says a man’s gift makes room for him (Proverbs 18:16). We mostly think of this in terms of talents and giftings. But the original was talking about Denaris (money).

The Passion Translation puts it this way, “Would you like to meet a very important person? Take a generous gift. It will do wonders to gain entrance into his presence.” (Proverbs 18:16). There are cases where you need access, giving can help you gain access. Pastor isn’t that bribing? No. When you give, you become endeared to people. How did God win us over? God won us over by giving us His Son. He gave for the greatest need of humanity. And now we love Him because He first loved us. How did He love us? He loved us by giving to us.

Prayer: Father, I desire to be more like You, empower me, in Jesus Mighty Name. Amen!