The smallest good deed is worth a thousand grand intentions
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 6:37-38
“ One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. ” – Prov. 11:24
“For He maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof.” (Job 36:27). If there is no vapour ascending, how then can there be a condensing of the clouds into rain? If there be no scattering of seed, how then can there be an increase of harvest? If there be no outflow of blessing from our hearts to others, how then shall we in turn inherit a blessing? Give and it shall be given unto you. The more we “bless the Lord,” the more He gathers up those “vapours” and multiplies and increases until He pours upon us blessings of an hundredfold. --Ray Prinzing
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
-- Acts 20:35
God loves a cheerful giver.
-- 2 Corinthians 9:7
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.
-- Proverbs 19:17
With malice toward none; with charity for all.
-- Abraham Lincoln
He who waits to do a great deal of good at once, will never do anything.
-- Samuel Johnson
There are three kinds of givers -- the flint, the sponge and the honeycomb. To get anything out of a flint you must hammer it. And then you get only chips and sparks. To get water out of a sponge you must squeeze it, and the more you use pressure, the more you will get. But the honeycomb just overflows with its own sweetness. Which kind of giver are you?
Giving with glad and generous hearts has a way of routing out the tough old miser within us. Even the poor need to know that they can give. Just the very act of letting go of money, or some other treasure, does something within us. It destroys the demon greed. -- Richard J. Foster, Money, Sex & Power.
"I was just a child," related a retired Baptist preacher, "when one spring day my father called me to go with him to old man Russell's blacksmith shop. He had left a rake and a hoe to be repaired and they were ready, fixed like new. Father handed over a silver dollar for repairing them but Mr. Russell refused to take it. 'No,' he said, 'there's no charge for that little job.' But father insisted. And if I live a thousand years," said the preacher, "I'll never forget that great blacksmith's reply. 'Sid,' he said to my father, 'Can't you let a man do somethin' just to stretch his soul?'"
It is estimated that if the widow's mite had been deposited at the "First National Bank, Jerusalem" to draw four percent interest semi-annually, the fund today would total $4,800,000,000,000,000,000,000. If a bank on earth could multiply the widow's mite to such an astronomical figure, think what treasures this dedicated woman will have in heaven where "moth and rust doth not corrupt."
Giving is the highest expression of potency. --Erich Fromm
If you haven't got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble. --Bob Hope
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
Author Thomas Carlyle tells how, when he was a boy, a beggar came to the door. His parents were out and he was alone in the house. On a boyish impulse, he broke into his own savings bank and gave the beggar all that was in it, and he tells us that never before or since did he know such sheer happiness as came to him in that moment. There is indeed joy in giving.
Seven Ways To Give:
1. The Careless Way: To give something to every cause that is presented, without inquiring into its merits.
2. The Impulsive Way: To give from impulse--as much and as often as love and pity and sensibility prompt.
3. The Lazy Way: To make a special offer to earn money for worthy projects by fairs, bazaars, etc.
4. The Self-Denying Way: To save the cost of luxuries and apply them to purposes of religion and charity. This may lead to asceticism and self-complacence.
5. The Systematic Way: To lay aside as an offering to God a definite portion of our gains--one tenth, one fifth, one third, or one half (rich or poor can follow this plan).
6. The Equal Way: To give God and the needy just as much as we spend on ourselves.
7. The Heroic Way: To limit our own expenditures to a certain sum and give all the rest of our income.
--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 240-241.
"Go give to the needy sweet charity's bread.
For giving is living," the angel said.
"And must I be giving again and again?"
My peevish, petulant answer ran.
"Oh, no," said the angel, piercing me through,
"just give till the Master stops giving to you."
No man was ever honored for what he received. Honor is the reward for what he gave.
You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.
We heard of a man and woman who gave a sizeable contribution to the church to honor the memory of their son who lost his life in the war. When the announcement was made of the generous donation, a woman whispered to her husband, "Let's give the same amount for our boy!" Her husband said, "What are you talking about? Our son wasn't killed." "That's just the point," she said. "Let's give it as an expression of our gratitude to God for sparing his life!"
First, give yourself to God. You may be sure he'll look after what is his.
He gives twice who gives quickly. Italian proverb
You have never really lived until you've done something for somebody who can never repay you.
Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.
He who gives when he is asked has waited too long.
The millionaires in eternity are the givers in time.The best thing you can give someone is a chance.
If you are not generous with a meager income, you will never be generous with abundance.
Harold Nye
You only keep what you give away. R. E. Phillips
Do your giving while you're living, so you're knowing where it's going.
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
A gift, though small, is welcome. -- Greek proverb
A hospital visitor saw a nurse tending to the sores of a leprosy patient, and said, "I'd never do that for a million dollars!" The nurse answered, "Neither would I. But I do it for Jesus for nothing."
Baylor University is a fine institution in Beaumont, Texas. The Christian who gave the money for building that school later lost all his property. Men of the world asked him, "Don't you wish you had the money back that you put into that school?" He replied, "Not at all. It is all that I have saved. If I had kept that money, I would have lost it too. I am thankful that I gave that building when I did."
Plenty of people are willing to give God credit, yet few are willing to give Him cash.
Let us give up our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into God's hand; and then, when we have given all to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about. -- Hudson Taylor
If a man's religion does not affect his use of money, that man's religion is vain. -- Hugh Martin