The human heart longs for fulfillment. For love. For meaning and significance, relationship and acceptance, peace and rest. But while many people long for these things, few know how to get them. They instinctively reach for them, run after them, grab them at every opportunity, and still come up empty. Why? Because the way to get them isn’t to try to get them. It’s to give them.
Jesus said it this way: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38). Whatever you put out there will come back to you. Or, as another biblical writer puts it, you reap what you sow.
That doesn’t mean we can selfishly manipulate circumstances by playing the part of a generous giver. Inauthentic giving reaps inauthentic rewards. But if you want your life to be filled with true generosity, friendship, love, and purpose, offer those things to others. You want affirmation? Give it. Need unconditional love? Pour it out on others without demanding it in return. Crave forgiveness? Offer it freely. Give the kinds of gifts you want to receive —genuinely — and God promises to return them to you in abundance.
