I said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Do you find this hard to swallow? Does it fly in the face of your culture of acquisition? Yet don’t you see this truth in effect around you, even outside of church walls and among those who do not make a Christian profession of faith? Even if the first half of your life is devoted to acquiring, what do you do with what you get? This applies to more than money. It is a deep-seated human desire to give back, to provide something for the human race generally that represents the value you have acquired whether it be wisdom, skill, art, benevolence, money, or something else. Those who do so know it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Dancers stretch to improve their flexibility for graceful movement and to avoid injury. Stretching can be uncomfortable but many people do it intuitively in spite of this for the same reasons. Do you understand that there are spiritual and emotional versions of stretching as well? The experiences of life can disturb your comfort level and challenge you to be more open, tolerant, and accepting. This also will give you flexibility to be graceful and avoid injury in another sense. This type of stretching is painful in a different way, but if you understand the great value of these things you will seek it out deliberately to obtain their benefits. 

Do you see your faith as a journey? Has following me ever given you a sense of dislocation from the comfortable and familiar? You may find this disturbing and think that you are out of my will, but there is a Biblical precedent for this as a necessary step in your spiritual development. When I called Abraham it was to move away from familiar surroundings. Jacob and David fled for their lives after I called them, and Joseph was taken away against his will. You can be too comfortable where you are. Don’t be in distress when I call you to move on from your routine, but expect it as a normal part of my pattern for your spiritual growth. 

Do you know anyone who responded to the gospel message on their first exposure to it? This can happen, but it is rare. Most people aren’t prepared to make a total life commitment to something the first time they encounter it. Were you? My word makes provision for this in saying that one plants and another waters but God gives the increase. Learn from this simple illustration with plants. Discern the spiritual state of those you encounter and meet them where they are to advance my redemptive work in their lives. Blessed are those who are equipped to minister at every level of spiritual growth.