By O.S. Hawkins
The Lord Jesus destroyed myth No. 2. He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Think about that at Christmastime. When you and your family are all around the tree opening gifts, what do you do? Do you watch the one who is opening the gift? I don't. I watch the expression on the giver's face, which is filled with delight upon seeing the recipient enjoying the gift. It is written all across the giver’s face! This is why parents like Christmas so much. Because it is fun to give! The only reason some of us have not found the "abundance of joy" in giving is because we simply have not practiced it.
It is a myth to say that it is unpleasant to give. Those who know what it is to have an open hand with God have joy. We remember back in Bethany this very expression of blessing. Jesus said to the woman in Bethany that she had done "a beautiful thing to Him." She walked home on a cloud with joy in her heart that night. Have you given anything lately that caused the Lord Jesus to say, "You have done a beautiful thing to me"? Look at the Macedonians. They gave out of an "abundance of joy." It is a myth to say that only people with money should give, and it is an equal myth to say that it is unpleasant to give.
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"...their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality" (2 Cor. 8:2).
Some fear that if we give, we will not have enough for ourselves. It is a myth to say that giving results in a lack of resources. Some of us never add the supernatural into the economic equations of life. This is myth No. 3. Jesus Himself said, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:38). Listen to the message of the Macedonians: "In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality" (2 Cor. 8:2). Some of the richest people I know are poor, and some of the poorest people I know are rich! Some have what money can buy, and some have what money cannot buy.
The Lord Jesus destroyed myth No. 3 one day in Galilee when He took a little lad and a little lunch and taught us all a lesson. The boy left home with all of the potential of the world that day and didn't even know it. His giving started a chain reaction. He gave to Christ. Christ gave to the disciples. The disciples gave to the crowd. The crowd gave back to the disciples. And all because the boy gave "beyond his ability" (2 Cor. 8:3). He "abounded in riches."