Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38
and the second one is:
And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Mark 10:29-30
You may ask why these two scriptures? Well both scriptures speak to giving and whatever you have given it will be returned to you hundredfold, or a hundred times over what you have originally given. No I am not going to preach to you about these two scriptures, but I would like to give you my take on them. Luke's scripture is easier to understand and it is quite the prayer to offer someone. Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. That is a wow scripture, to me what he is saying here is that when you give it will be given back to you. Not just the amount you have given will be returned to you, but the good measure will be pressed down, to fit more in there, shaken together, so it gets into all the cracks and crevices, and running over will be given back to you. What an abundantly wonderful gift to give back to someone that has given you a good measure, not only are they getting back what they have given but then they are getting it back with it running over.
The first time I read this scripture in Mark, I took it literally and that was a scary thought for me to absorb, to just walk away from everyone and everything. Admittedly I had to pray over this one, because I just could not grasp God asking me to give up my children, that he had blessed me with, and just walk away. As I was meditating on this I was blessed with some clarification, God is not asking me to do anything he has not already done before, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, and even earlier when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac for a burnt offering, and because he was willing to make such a sacrifice God stopped him and Abraham was mightily blessed. This scripture is teaching the same lesson, if you are willing to walk away from your house, brothers and sisters, Mother and Father, Wife and children or land to follow him, with persecutions, he will bless you with the same with a hundredfold increase, and that is just because of your willingness to follow him. To follow him does not mean it has to be a big grand gesture or an announcement, it is in the day to day way in which God manifests in our lives, despite what others may say. When we say bless you, because someone sneezed or they just needed to hear it, is a small powerful prayer you are saying over someone. Or more significantly giving to a complete stranger because you see their need, like the New York police officer who gave the homeless man socks and shoes just because he knew he needed them. More personally a great number of people, known and unknown to me, working together to make sure my family and I stayed together. Although it may not seem like it, it is what this scripture is all about, are you willing to do what God has asked you to do despite people saying "your nuts" "I would never" or "I have gifts to buy for my family so I can't help" (the persecutions). And because of your willingness, you will be blessed one hundredfold, good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be returned to you.
May the peace, joy and love of Christmas bless and keep you and your families, now and throughout the New Year!!
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