MORE Blessed

Jesus said: “It is MORE BLESSED to give then to receive.” I am willing to bet that almost every one of us would like to be MORE BLESSED rather than LESS BLESSED. If this is true why do we give so little? Why do we give in such a way that we end up less blessed?

Jesus said: “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." (Luke 6:38 NIV)

In Jesus day the land was owned by a relatively few people. These people were the rich people. The rich were those in power and who controlled most aspects of society and life.

In the harvest field there were two classes of people that would be found in the field.

One class was the laborers who Jesus often spoke of in stories and parables. These workers were paid not by the amount of work they did but by the amount of hours they put in. The parable of the Landowner – Matthew 20 illustrates those who got paid based on the number of hours they would put in.

The other class of people was the poor people. These people were given the right to ‘glean’ from the field. They would follow the harvesters and gather the leftovers to supply their personal need. What they gleaned was free. It was theirs.

The laborers would fill a basket only partially full. They had to carry the basket from where they were working to the main holding area. They didn’t fill the basket all the way full because it would spill as they carried it across the field and what would be the point of that?

The poor, the gleaners, on the other hand would fill the basket full, they would shake it, they would press it down and as they walked away it would be running over. What they had was theirs and there was no cost to them. They were going to carry as much as they possibly could.

Being MORE BLESSED is what Jesus was referring to when He said: “Give, and it will be given to you. … For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

You and I are in complete control of MORE BLESSED and LESS BLESSED!