Acts 20:35 I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus… It is pleasant to hear people talk about things with which they are well acquainted; but if a person attempts to speak on a subject he knows nothing about, nobody wants to hear him. Suppose someone should lecture about the way houses are built in the moon, would you care about going to hear him? But suppose that a great explorer, after he had spent two winters up towards the North Pole, should lecture about the Polar regions, should not we all be anxious to hear him? Well, when Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," He knew all about it. It is more blessed to give than to receive because — I. IT IS MORE LIKE GOD. God is "the giver of every good and perfect gift." Who gave us our hands to work with? our feet to walk with? our ears to hear, and our tongues to talk with? our minds to think, and our hearts to love with? these lungs to breathe with? God. Yes, God gives us our health, our strength, our clothes, our friends, our teachers, our parents, our homes, our churches, our ministers, our Bibles. II. IT IS MORE USEFUL. If God should stop giving for just one day, everything would perish. 1. It is more useful to ourselves. Suppose I want to have my arm become very strong. If I carry it in a sling, and do not use it all, after a while it will grow weak and thin. But if I use it all I can, the stronger it will grow. Look at the blacksmith! And what is true of the arm is true of the heart. Our hearts will grow larger, and stronger, and better, by proper exercise. And the proper exercise for the heart is giving. A good many people carry their hearts in a sling. And the consequence is that their hearts grow narrow and little, and good for nothing. If they would begin to exercise their hearts by giving, they would find that what Jesus said is true, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." 2. It is more useful to others. If we keep our money without using it, what good will it do? There was once a Scottish nobleman — Lord Brace. He was very rich, but very miserly. He was so close and stingy, that one day when a farmer came to pay his rent, the money he brought was just one farthing short, and the man had to go all the way back to his home, a distance of several miles, and get that farthing before he would give him a receipt. Well, when it was all settled, the farmer said, "Now, Brace, I'll give you a shilling if you'll let me see all the silver and gold you've got." "Agreed," said the miserly lord. Then he took him into his vault, and opened the great iron chests full of gold and silver, so that he could see it all. Then the farmer gave him the promised shilling, and said, "Now, Brace, I'm as rich as you are." "Ay, men," said his lordship, "and how can that be?" "Because I've looked at your gold and silver, and that is all you will ever do with it." Now let us take an example of a different kind. Some years ago a certain Sunday school was making up a box of things to send to a missionary station. One poor little girl was very anxious to send something. But all she had in the world to give was a single penny. So she bought a tract with that penny, and gave the tract to her teacher to put in the box. It was opened at Burdwan, in India. That tract fell into the hands of the son of one of the chiefs and led him to become a Christian. Then he was very anxious that others should become Christians too. In one year fifteen hundred of the natives of that part of the country gave up their idolatry and became Christians, through the labours of that young prince. And all this good resulted from the one tract bought by that poor little girl's single penny. Now think of all this good being done by one penny, and then think of all Lord Brace's gold and silver lying useless, and you must admit that it is more blessed to give than to receive or keep. III. THERE IS MORE HAPPINESS IN IT. Little Robert Manly thought a great deal about pleasing himself, and this is not at all the best way to be happy. One day a poor woman came to Robert's mother to beg a little new milk for her sick baby. Mrs. Manly had none to spare, except what she had saved for her Robert's supper; and at supper time his mother told him how she had given away his milk for the poor sick baby. Robert didn't like this at all, and kept muttering about the milk being his, and nobody else having any right to it. The next day Robert was taken to see this poor family, and it made him shiver to look round on that cheerless home. The poor woman thanked Mrs. Manly over and over again for the new milk. "It kept the baby still all night," she said. As they walked home, Robert did not say a word, though he was generally very talkative. At supper time his bowl of milk was set by his plate, but in a few minutes he went to his mother's side and said in a whisper, "Mother, may I take my milk to the poor sick baby?" "Yes, my son," said his mother. By and by he came bounding into the room covered over with snowflakes, and shouting cheerfully, "Mother, the baby's got the milk. Her mother said, 'God bless you, my child!' and, mother, my milk tastes very good tonight (smacking his lips); I mean my no milk." Yes, little Robert was proving the truth of our Saviour's words. (Richard Newton, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. |
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