Scripture: Luke 6:38

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.

A young believer went to a man who had followed Christ for many years with this complaint. “I have lost my joy!” The older, wiser Christian responded, “Go out and do something for someone else. Then repeat that act of kindness nine times. Then you will find joy!”

When we develop the habit of looking for a need and then meeting it, we will experience joy as never before. Many times, instead of looking for a need, we look the other way.

It is a paradox in the Christian life that the more we give, the more we receive. God has promised that if you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over.

Whatever measure you use in giving--large or small--it will be used to measure what is given back to you. If you want joy, learn to invest your life in others. Be on the look out for a need and meet it. God created us to share one another’s load because a shared load is a lighter load.

F.B. Meyer once noted: "I used to think, that God’s gifts were on shelves-one above another and the taller we grow, the easier we can reach them.

Now I find that God’s gifts are on shelves, one beneath another and the lower we stoop, the more we get. The more you give the more joy you will experience. The more joy you have, the more you will want to give - but you cannot out-give God. He rewards "joy-givers."

Prayer: Father, please forgive me when I am so focused on what I can get that I ignore what I can give. Help me to be a giver and a vessel through which Your joy flows into the people around me. Scriptural Reading: Luke 6:37-42