Give It Away (Luke 6)
Today’s chapter (Luke 6) is as chock full of good stuff as a Chips Ahoy cookie. I had all kinds of thoughts, convictions and applications swirling around my 3 pounds of gray mass….
But I just read the book Irresistible Evangelism and a few stories from Steve Sjogren really stayed with me and came back when I read verses 37-38 about not judging and instead giving with off-the-charts generosity.
Sjogren wrote about the days after a nearly fatal car accident. He was stuck in the hospital, struggling with depression. Friends kept visiting and would invariably say, “Is there anything I can do for you?” Sjogren would always respond, “Yes. Do you have any spare change on you?” He would then have the friend push him in his wheelchair to the popsicle machine. They would buy some, and then Sjogren would go around looking for people to give them to. He said he knew the way he could get on the path to emotional and spiritual recovery.
He told about another time, years ago, when the church he was at in Cincinnati was doing a capital campaign to raise one million dollars. It wasn’t clear whether they would make it, and the leaders were praying about what to do. Finally, they decided. They began looking for another church in town also doing a building campaign and eventually found one. They called the pastor and asked him to come to a special service they were having. At the service they made a donation to the other church … of about $40,000!!
Luke6: 38Give, 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.”