This week I’m going through the lessons of Group’s PandaMania VBS and considering how they apply to more than just kids!

God Gives Good Gifts
You place Your hand of blessing on my head
Psalm 139:5

These are exciting days in the King house because we are preparing for a friend’s birthday party.  That means present shopping!  Now, because we have all girls, when we shop for a boy present, we scan the aisles in overwhelming ignorance.  What could possibly be fun for a boy?  We just don’t know. We stare at action figures and shrug our shoulders at the shelves of machines.

But when we shop for a girl, now then let the pink fly!  My daughters run the aisles with excitement, catching their breath at every new wonderful find.  Dress-up clothes!  Barbies!  Princesses!  Ponies!  Cute little stuffed toys that do nothing at all but look adorable!

If I let them, my girls would fill the cart to overflowing with gifts for their friend.

Matthew 7:11 says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

It’s true, our generous God has filled us to overflowing with good gifts.  Just like parents who hold the camera ready for that moment when our kids open the package we just know they’ll love, so God enjoys blessing His children.

But, God has a gift-giving strategy slightly different from ours.  We give to bless someone else and that’s it.  We have one happy friend, one pleased child, perhaps even a better-off stranger because of our giving.

God, however, blesses us so we can bless others so they can bless others and on and on the blessing travels from person to person and life to life.

The problem is that we sometimes interrupt God’s plan because we receive His blessing and then hoard it. We are the dam that is impeding the flow of blessing to others.  We’ve stopped it all up and created a pool of blessing for ourselves, while others downstream receive trickles of water instead of the stream God intended.

Mostly we might be generous with money. We write checks for good causes.  We are sometimes generous with things.  We load up canned goods during food drives and bag up our extra clothes for The Salvation Army.

Then there’s our time, our attention, our spiritual gifts.  That’s usually when we get a bit stingy.

We’re busy!  We have our own things to do!!

If we were honest, there are moments we sound just like my toddler.  “Mine, mine, mine, mine!”

Yet, God blesses one to bless many.  That’s the pattern of His giving.

When He pronounced His promise of blessing over Abram, He announced, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”

Abram was blessed so he could be a blessing.

When Hannah held her infant son, Samuel, in her arms, she cuddled an answered prayer and the fulfillment of years of aching desire.  But, instead of hoarding her son, she weaned him, sewed him a robe, and walked him to the temple of God where he would serve.

She was blessed and so she returned her son to God so Samuel could be a blessing to others.

Paul tells us that God continues this pattern in our lives: “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11).

God’s purpose, His design in giving you good gifts, is so that you can be “generous on every occasion.”  Not just with material goods; that’s sometimes the easy part.  But also with those few hours on your schedule that you’d prefer to spend your own way.  With that ministry you know God has gifted you to fill.  With the thoughtfulness of prayer or writing a note of encouragement that we too often push off our to-do list.

David wrote, “You place Your hand of blessing on my head” (Psalm 139:5) and later “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5).

It’s the overflow of our lives that God uses to bless and encourage others, if we will just let it flow.

I know some of you feel poured out.  You rise in the morning in response to a cry, you tend all day to the needs of others, you lie down at night after sacrificially caring for the most delicate needs of another human being.  These are our children.  These are sometimes our parents.  And you pour out, you pour out, you pour out your blessing in service to others.

I pray for you now. For God to fill your cup so full of oil that this daily ministry to others is made easier and so that no matter how much you pour out, He refills your cup so that you never for a moment feel emptied.

And I also pray that others who have received so much blessing will take the time to give to you.  Because that’s how God meant for it to work.  God gives good gifts, so that we can give good gifts to others.

Heather King is a wife, mom, Bible Study teacher, writer for www.myfrienddebbie.com and worship leader.  Most importantly, she is a Christ follower with a desire to help others apply the Bible to everyday life with all its mess, noise, and busyness.  To read more devotionals by Heather King, click here.

Copyright © 2011 Heather King