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There was an elderly woman that was traveling a lonely stretch of highway. All of a sudden, BOOM! A tire blew out. She pulled over to the side of the road and waited. After a few minutes she looked in her rear view mirror she saw a car approaching in the distance. Luke 6:38: “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” How often have you heard this scripture quoted? Usually right before an offering is taken. Give, and it will be Given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Why is Giving so Important? And was Jesus really talking about monetarily giving? Having been in ministry for several years, I’ve heard numerous pastors/church leaders use this verse for anything related to sowing and reaping. The rain began to fall lightly. The young man said, “I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan.” The elderly woman breathed a sigh of relief. There was no way she could have changed her own tire. Bryan had the spare tire on and the jack down in less than ten minutes. As he was tightening the lug nuts, the woman rolled down her window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid. Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. She asked him how much she owed him. Any price would have been all right with her. She’d already imagined some of the awful things that might have happened if Bryan hadn’t stopped. Bryan never thought twice about asking for money, even though he could have used some financial help. Changing a tire was not a job to him; it was a matter of helping someone in need. He told the woman that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed. “And when you do,” he added, “think of me.” Bryan waited until the woman started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed home. A few miles down the road the woman saw a small diner. Though the place didn’t look like much, she went in to grab a bite to eat and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home.
Her waitress brought a clean towel for the woman to dry her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet all day couldn’t erase. The woman noticed that the waitress was pregnant. She wondered how someone who seemingly had so little could be so generous and kind to a stranger. Then the woman remembered Bryan. After she finished her meal, she gave the waitress a $100 bill. While the waitress went to get change, the woman slipped quietly out the door. When the waitress came back to the table, she noticed something written on a napkin. When she picked it up to read it, she noticed four $100 bills that had been left underneath it. There were tears in the waitress’s eyes when she read what the woman had written: “You don’t owe me anything. I’ve been there, too. Somebody nice helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: don’t let this chain of love end with you.” That night when the waitress got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the woman had written. How could the woman have known how much she and her husband needed that money? With the baby due in a month, she knew how worried her husband was. As he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered softly, “Everything’s going to be alright. I love you, Bryan.” What’s the Moral here... Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38). The unselfish life is the abundant life. God blesses us whenever we are willing to bless others.
Jesus is the supreme example of what it means to be a servant. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...He humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8). And like Bryan in the story, Jesus says to us, “The next time you see someone in need, think of me.”
