How Being Generous Makes Your Life Better

Here’s a basic rule for life: the more you give, the more you gain. That’s nothing more than what Jesus said in Luke 6:38, “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.”

I’ve experienced it time and time again.

This is true not in a transactional sense—that if you give away a dollar you get one back—but it is what we call prudential wisdom. It’s a saying that illustrates a basic principle in life. While there may be exceptions, they are few.

Generous people are rewarded while stingy people seem to suffer with less and less. Here are a few of the ways that giving to others benefits not only them, but you as well.

You Build a Community

If you were facing a serious problem, would you rather have a thousand dollars or a thousand friends? Most of us can readily see that having a community of support is even more valuable than having money. When you are generous with others, you put “money” in the relational “bank” of friendship. When you give to others, you are indeed blessed.

You Gain Resources 

The advice to “give and it will be given to you” is not a spiritual platitude. It is the statement of a principle within the universe that is every bit as reliable as the law of gravity. When you give what you have away, you gain more in return.

You will see this principle in action with nontangible things as well. Ideas, respect, opportunities, kindness—all of these are subject to the law of generosity. When you give them away, you gain even more.

You Are Blessed

When you give to others, you are blessed in ways that are hard to describe. Perhaps the best way to put it is this: giving to others is really a gift to yourself. You feel content, at peace, and blessed. If you have not yet experienced this, you are missing out on one of the greatest opportunities life has to offer. If you want to experience true joy in life, make the choice to be generous with others.

On a scale from one to ten, where would you rate yourself on generosity? Remember, the surest way to lose what you have is to cling to it tightly. The surest way to gain is to give—your time, your resources, your self—for others.

How have you seen the law of generosity in action?  I’d love to hear your answer on Facebook or Twitter!

StanAToler

 

 

 

 


 

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