What Comes First?

Living and Giving, what does come first in a successful life? The world tells us to live it up and live first and then give of what you have left or from your success. Now practically, this seems appropriate because how can we give of what we do not have and possess?


But things do fall apart when we think we first have to live; achieve it, earn it, amass it, acquire it, win it or find it before we will give.

You hear it said a lot; "You know when my ship comes in, then I will really make a big gift to my church." Or, "I can't give any of my time, talent, and treasure now because I do not have any thing to give. So, I will wait till later." AND later never comes.

There is a spiritual law in the universe that runs the way we live and the results we get whether we believe it or follow it or not. We've talked about this law many times before; it is called the "Law of Sowing and Reaping." (Galatains 6:3) So in order to really live and receive we have to first give and share.

By giving we are talking about giving our money to a good cause, giving our time to make that cause work and giving our talent to bring value on board for the success of that cause.

By giving we are also talking about our money a lot too. As a person once said, if you want to know what is really important in your life, just take a tally of what you have spent your money on in the past six months.


Living and Giving go hand in hand. As it says in the Bible in 2 Corinthians 8 "First they gave themselves to God and then to us." We give to a higher order of life; toward the spiritual side of life and we give to others. One really good way to do that is in and through the church. When we do that according to the universal laws, we then can really live! Guaranteed.

Blessings in your Giving and Living this week.

Rev. Bill McBride

The Law of Like Return

Our beatitude for this week is Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy." I'd venture to say that no one will debate the value of this beatitude. Mercy appears at leat 208 times in the Bible. God is merciful and God wants us to show mercy. No questions here.

What I'd like to share with you is a more general and larger understanding that this scripture prompts. I call it The Law Of Like Return. This law goes by many assorted names; perhaps you have heard some variations or even said them.

• What goes around comes around,
• Life is a cricle,
• Like attracts like;
• The Law of Attraction
  
  Here is how I understand this law that governs everything we do: "You will always get back into your life what you fist give away to others through your life." Pretty simple and pretty basic. BUT do we forget it a lot and then wonder why our lives get so messed up and "under enjoyed."
  
  

The prblem is we think that to get something or enjoy something we have to work really hard to acquire it and hold onto it and never let it go. Here is another really important point; the Universe is not a finite sum game. We wrongly think there is a finite amount of that which we want and need. So therefore, when we get some we had better not give any of it away or we will lose it for sure and never get it back. WRONG!

God, the source of all that is good, gracious and enjoyable has an infinite suply of good things and wonderful experiences for you and me to enjoy. And the only way to get them and keep them is to be willing to first give them away. It is not grab and hold on tight, it is give and share and receive in return. This is how The Law of Like Return Works. Guaranteed!

"Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy."

Blessings

Reverend Bill McBride