Be a Giver

by Henry Mclaughlin @RiverBendSagas

Giving is one of the clearest concepts in the Bible. The Word of God goes so far as to tell us to give cheerfully because the Lord loves a cheerful giver. So, our attitude is important. As Christians, one of our assignments is to help others. The specific form of helping can take very specific aspects. Overall, they fall into three general areas: finances, time, and talent. Sometimes all three are involved at once.

I think we’ve all heard of giving tithes and offerings to our church. This is an awesome place to start. Some of us also give to other organizations like the Red Cross. Have you ever given money to an individual? When I was struck down by Covid, my men’s group took up a substantial financial gift for us. While I was home with Covid, my wife was in the hospital with Covid pneumonia. Our neighbors made sure I was fed, picked food and medication for me, and transported my wife home from the hospital. 

There have been times when the Lord has nudged and encouraged my wife and I to give money to individuals. We try to follow as he leads. The amount varies but the impetus is clearly from the Lord.

I remember a time my wife and I went to Home Depot. We pulled into the parking lot. A couple with a couple of children were sitting on one of the little islands that dot the parking area. There was a small tree providing the only shade. They held a cardboard sign requesting help. I don’t recall the exact wording. We went into the store and as we shopped, my wife told me she felt the Lord telling her to give the family some money. We finished our shopping. When we left, the family was gone. We missed our opportunity to obey God and bless someone. Our prayer was someone else blessed them. We’ll never know this side of heaven, but missing that opportunity stirred in us a stronger desire to follow God’s promptings more quickly with his discernment guiding us as to the person and the amount.

Whenever we volunteer to serve, whether at church or a community organization, we make a gift of our time. The value of time is once you give, you can’t get it back. We all have an allotted amount of time in this life. How we use it is up to us. We can bless others, we can waste it, or we can use it for selfish purposes. We can increase our finances and develop our talents, but we can’t get more time.

The other aspect of giving our time is we are simply in that place of service to give to others. It might be to sit with a grieving family. It might be cleaning the bathrooms at church or the house of an elderly person. It might be volunteering in a church or school program so single moms can have a break for a few hours. Our church has a group called the Men’s Brigade. These guys go out on weekend to do repairs and such for the widows and single moms.

Giving our time to be available to others in whatever way is a blessing to them and a blessing to ourselves as we are rewarded for our efforts even if no one else notices.

Talents is the third area. The Lord leads me to help other writers with the gifts he’s given me. He’s also placed in my wife and I a desire to help others manage their finances. We’ve learned a lot the hard way and he led us to share what we’ve learned through our church by coaching individuals and families is such things as making a budget, devising a plan to get out of debt, and developing confidence in their ability to handle money wisely.

These are just a few examples of being a giver.

What are some of the things you’re doing to give to others?

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Be a Giver - thoughts from author Henry McLaughlin, @RiverBendSagas on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Henry’s debut novel, Journey to Riverbend, won the 2009 Operation First Novel contest.

Henry edits novels, leads critique groups, and teaches at conferences and workshops. He enjoys mentoring and coaching individual writers.

Connect with Henry on his BLOG, TWITTER and FACEBOOK.

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