Receive Well, Thank Well, Give Well

"Jesus took the bread, give thanks and distributed them." Jn. 6:11

Generosity is not only about giving.

First, it is about receiving.

And second, it is about thanking.

Remember  the  IPO model?

Receiving is the INPUT

Thanking is the PROCESS

Giving is the OUTPUT

Listen well.

The quality of your giving is in the quality of your receiving. And the quality of your receiving is in the quality of your thanking.

What do I mean by this?

First, you cannot give what you don’t have.

You cannot give food if you don’t have food.

You cannot give water if you don’t have water.

So, the first stance in generosity is your ability to receive well.

And receiving well means your ability to be open and humble to accept good things from others. Without this ability, there’s nothing to be thankful for and nothing to be given.

Second, true giving only comes from true ‘possessing.’

What I mean is that you need to ‘own’ what was given to you first before you can truly give it. Because without you owning it first, giving can only be an act of corruption or of disposal.

(More on this later) But how we can truly possess what was given to us? By gratitude! By having a thankful heart.

Is this not what we expect to people we are giving?

That they will be happy and thankful for the gift that they have received from us?

Yes. If they are truly thankful, we know that they will own the gift, enjoy it and take care of it.

This should also be our second stance when we received something from others. Be thankful. Express gratitude.

Lastly, share what you have received and what you are trully thankful.

Have you experienced to share or give something which is not yours? That is not generosity that is corruption.

Have you experienced to share or give something that you don’t need or not really thankful? That is not generosity that is disposing.

So true generosity starts form receiving something.

Claiming that something as your own by being thankful.

And if you are really thankful, you cannot help but give or share it to others.

Because thankfulness is something to be shared. After all, you cannot contain thankfulness.

Today, let us learn from Christ.

He humbly received the bread.

He gave thanks for the bread.

And generously given the bread to others.

That is generosity. Genuine generosity!

God bless your giving.