Are you in position?
Be a cheerful recipient of a generous God’s gifts
Editor’s note: Look for a sermon or lesson from Houston’s diverse faiths every week in Belief.
“You are out of position. You must establish your position first!”
Those words from our high school basketball coach echo through the years. His advice to everyone on our team was simple: If you want to stop the offensive player from scoring, you must first situate yourself in a favorable defensive position.
What is true in basketball also is true in one’s stance of giving to the Lord. We give to place our selves in a position to receive; we breathe out to place our selves in a position to breathe in. We give our life to the Savior to place our selves in a position to receive eternal life.
Some years ago when Dr. Charles Allen was pastor at First Methodist Church here in Houston, he spoke to a gathering of pastors, which included myself. He chastised us for pounding on the pulpit with our fists and pleading, “You must give!” And then he concluded that we should open our fists and then, with open hand, smile and urge giving. You cannot receive with a closed life. I am not the best preacher you have ever heard, but I have the best loose hands you have ever seen. Do you know how to receive? A preacher once congratulated a lady for a beautiful solo she sang in worship. She responded, “Oh, don’t thank me. Give God the glory.” She did not know how to receive a compliment. God loves a cheerful giver and God loves a cheerful receiver. In Luke 6:38, Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken to- gether, running over, they will pour into your lap. For whatever measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt to you in return.”
Jesus did not say to give so that you will receive. That is not the message of Jesus, neither is it to be our incentive. He urged His followers to give in order that they may receive. To the degree you give others what they need, they will give you what you need — “they will pour it into your lap.”
Actually, it is impossible to give money away. The Bible says, “He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.” [Proverbs 19:17].
The borrower is indebted to the lender. In this verse, because of gracious giving, man is the lender and God is the borrower. Are you in position?
Learn to believe and expect God to do what He said He would do. In banking terms, they talk of the “multiplier.” It is usually between four and eight. It means that when new money is placed in our economic system, it generates between four and eight times that much money in goods, jobs, services and employment.
God’s multiplier ascends to 100!
In the parable of the soils Jesus said, “And the one whom seed was sown on the good ground, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.” [Matthew 13:23]
St. Paul amplifies the message, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” [II Corinthians 9:6]
I always have enjoyed the game of Monopoly. In fact, I have seldom lost a game. Imagine, while beating my opponent badly, a twinge of sorrow overtakes me just as I pass Go. So I decide not to accept the $200 and leave it in the bank. You would call me a foolish player because I would be playing the game short of all the benefits available to me.
Do not deprive yourself in the game of life when so much is avail- able. Learn to receive. Give of yourself to place yourself in a position to receive. And as the Bible says in James 1:17,” Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father above, who does change like shifting shadows.”
My friends, now is the day to gratefully and joyfully receive. God wants to give you so much. Accept His gifts now. Max R. Hickerson is a retired pastor who lives in Houston.