Giving Like God Does

The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

Proverbs 11:25

When we give—whether we offer gifts, time, encouragement, deeds of service, or hugs—our unselfish thoughtfulness refreshes others.

According to the book The Language of Love by Gary Smalley and John Trent, we all tend to give in the ways that we want to receive. They encourage us to learn the “love language” of those we care about and show love to them in the way they feel it most.

Great advice. But my problem is that I expect my husband to know all my love languages because I was raised by parents who knew all of them. I think the gift of prayer is one that I need to give to my husband: “Lord, please give Mark extra grace to live with me!”

One love language is gift giving. I would imagine some of the most treasured gifts we have received are handmade. (I’m not good at making gifts, but I sure appreciate those talents in others.) When a gift is handmade, it actually combines two gifts—time and the gift itself. Through homemade gifts, we offer part of ourselves to someone else. That is why a few words scribbled on a sticky note from Mark mean as much to me as any present.

When we abandon ourselves to God, the biggest Giver of all, we learn from His example to develop a habit of giving to others. When we are busy giving to others out of all God has given to us in Christ, we may not even notice if we ever receive a formal thank-you. We may be even more surprised to realize that we are refreshed in return when we share generously. This powerful, second-nature generosity comes as a result of experiencing and then sharing the depths of all we receive in Christ.

This poem I wrote years ago is still a prayer of my heart, and I’d like to give it to you as encouragement in your own giving too.

Lord, help me forget the things that I do.

I pray they would only be reminders of You!

Give a gift of yourself today in any form and be refreshed. Meditate on Luke 12:48.