Do Unto Others
I recently saw a man standing at an intersection with a sign saying, “Please help!” He was standing under a sign that said, “Don’t stop and help.” It pulls at my heartstrings every time I see something like this.
In my reading this week, I read a story about a woman filling her car up with gas. Another woman was there asking for help. She had left home without her bank card, and her baby was also in the car. The woman filling her car up decided to help the woman and put $15 of gas in her car even though she was unemployed at the time. Days later, the woman who gave the gas came home to find a gift basket of children’s toys and other presents on her porch. The woman’s kindness had been reciprocated, and her $15 gift had been converted into a memorable Christmas for her family.
This story tells us what Jesus meant when He said, “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)
It would be easy to think after reading this to focus on what we would get out of giving, but if then we would miss the whole point. Jesus preceded that statement with, “Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked,” (v. 35). Jesus is asking us to emulate the love of our Father in heaven, who loved us in spite of our failings.
Romans 5:10 says, “While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.” God loved us despite our rejection of Jesus. Now that we have been forgiven, we have every incentive to give to others, even those who hate us. Luke 6:38 gives us words that can frighten or encourage us depending on how we live our lives – “For the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
We don’t give to get things. We give because God delights in our generosity. The way we love others is a reflection of God’s loving heart toward us.
Prayer – Lord, help me to be more loving to others because you have been so loving and generous to me. Amen.
Luke 6:38 – “Give and it will be given to you.”
By the Rev. Tommy Herndon
Images: Jean Luc Benazet, Will Li & Andrea Lightfoot, courtesy of Unsplash
