The more you give, the more you receive

Sharing with you an excerpt from today’s gospel

The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you,
and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given;
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away

I was pleasantly surprised when I read this gospel, because just last night, I was talking to a friend about this, about giving and receiving from God. I guess God wanted to reinforce something.

I believe this tells us that the more we give, the more we receive. Giving to and for God does not really take things from us. I believe that God cannot be out given, and the more we give to Him, the more he will give us back. Although of course, this should not be the reason why we give. Jesus knows what is in our hearts, and he knows if what we are doing is genuine giving. He says in the gospel that the hypocrites who fast to be seen and acknowledged by people have already received their reward. God knows what our intentions are in serving and in giving, and he will reward us accordingly.

God does not think like human beings. We give God our time, talent and treasure – but he doesn’t necessarily give us back those. He gives us something greater than that. He doesn’t give us back time we spend for him, but he gives us genuine friendships built over time spent serving him. He doesn’t give us back our talents we use, he improves our talents so we could serve him better. He doesn’t always give us back the treasure we give for him, but he gives us true treasure in heaven as he changes us and prepares us to be with him for eternity. Indeed, the more we give, the more we will receive from God, not because we deserve it, but because God is just so generous.

The second part of the excerpt may seem harsh. Konti na nga lang yun nasa tao, kukunin pa. Well, it is up to us for it to be taken away. God will not take that away. When we refuse to follow God, when we refuse to receive God’s blessings, it is like giving away what God wants to give us. IT is like refusing to receive what God wants for us. In the end, we end up empty, not because God took what we have or what we could have received, but because we continually choose to refuse to follow and serve God, we refuse God’s blessings.

May we all remember this, and may we strive to give genuinely for God’s kingdom.

God bless!