Have a forgiving view of people. Believe that most people are doing the best they can. Unknown author
Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put in your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. LUKE 6:37-38 NKJV
Webster says a principle is: A fundamental truth, law or doctrine or motivating force, upon which others are based. Here in the Book of Luke I find another principle in the teachings of Jesus, the principle of giving. Once again Jesus is very clear about giving and receiving, its all in how you measure what you give. The way I see it, Jesus doesnt speak about the amount that is given or received, but how what you give is measured according to what you have. For the person who has a billion dollars, their measuring cup is larger than the one I have. My measuring cup is larger than the homeless person under the bridge trying to stay warm next to a burning barrel. We all have a measuring cup. I will relate an experience I had in 1980. I was alcoholic and bumming around Kansas City, I didnt have a home of my own and I mainly stayed with different friends. I thought to myself that life must be better somewhere else, so I moved to Springfield Missouri. I had just enough money to say in a cheap hotel downtown for a few days, and then I was out on the streets. I took up residence underneath an abandoned truck dock behind an empty business. I would wander to the square and drink wine with the winos. I would also give plasma once a week for around ten dollars. I used that money to buy alcohol. In the evening I would go to the mission where I could eat a meal, if I sat through a sermon preached by some young preacher boy. My point in telling you this is that I didnt have anything, and what I did have you can bet I kept it for myself. My little measuring cup was there to give and help others, but I couldnt see clearly enough to release of what I had. Therefore the principle of giving was applied to me and I didnt get anything back. It was measured back to me as I measured it giving. I had several more years to go before I started to understand some of the teachings of Jesus. One great event happened during that time though. One evening while I was eating at the mission some young preacher boy came up to me and asked if I wanted a change in my life. He said that if I got on my knees and asked God to come into my heart that things could change. I agreed, and we prayed together kneeling at a metal fold up chair. He gave me a Bible and I never saw him again, I often think of him still to this day. I could not tell that anything different had happened in my life as a result of running into this preacher boy. I soon headed back to Kansas City and back into the same old grind of drinking, drugging, and bumming around, mixed in with a little work here and there. What I didnt know was that a seed of forgiveness had been planted in my heart through that young preacher boy. It did not germinate until 1983 when I was in jail doing time for another DWI. A prison guard named Smith came along and told me of Jesus, and with his tears he water the small seed that had been planted by the young preacher boy. There is no way that I can repay what was done for me. Today my measuring cup is larger and continues to grow. I am so grateful. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself ..JRE
Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called his disciples to Himself and said to them, As assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more that all those who have given to the treasury: for they all put out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. MARK 12:42-44 NKJV
Dont you just know that she got blessed? Thanks for letting me share .JRE
http://www.jerryengland.blogspot.com
Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put in your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. LUKE 6:37-38 NKJV
Webster says a principle is: A fundamental truth, law or doctrine or motivating force, upon which others are based. Here in the Book of Luke I find another principle in the teachings of Jesus, the principle of giving. Once again Jesus is very clear about giving and receiving, its all in how you measure what you give. The way I see it, Jesus doesnt speak about the amount that is given or received, but how what you give is measured according to what you have. For the person who has a billion dollars, their measuring cup is larger than the one I have. My measuring cup is larger than the homeless person under the bridge trying to stay warm next to a burning barrel. We all have a measuring cup. I will relate an experience I had in 1980. I was alcoholic and bumming around Kansas City, I didnt have a home of my own and I mainly stayed with different friends. I thought to myself that life must be better somewhere else, so I moved to Springfield Missouri. I had just enough money to say in a cheap hotel downtown for a few days, and then I was out on the streets. I took up residence underneath an abandoned truck dock behind an empty business. I would wander to the square and drink wine with the winos. I would also give plasma once a week for around ten dollars. I used that money to buy alcohol. In the evening I would go to the mission where I could eat a meal, if I sat through a sermon preached by some young preacher boy. My point in telling you this is that I didnt have anything, and what I did have you can bet I kept it for myself. My little measuring cup was there to give and help others, but I couldnt see clearly enough to release of what I had. Therefore the principle of giving was applied to me and I didnt get anything back. It was measured back to me as I measured it giving. I had several more years to go before I started to understand some of the teachings of Jesus. One great event happened during that time though. One evening while I was eating at the mission some young preacher boy came up to me and asked if I wanted a change in my life. He said that if I got on my knees and asked God to come into my heart that things could change. I agreed, and we prayed together kneeling at a metal fold up chair. He gave me a Bible and I never saw him again, I often think of him still to this day. I could not tell that anything different had happened in my life as a result of running into this preacher boy. I soon headed back to Kansas City and back into the same old grind of drinking, drugging, and bumming around, mixed in with a little work here and there. What I didnt know was that a seed of forgiveness had been planted in my heart through that young preacher boy. It did not germinate until 1983 when I was in jail doing time for another DWI. A prison guard named Smith came along and told me of Jesus, and with his tears he water the small seed that had been planted by the young preacher boy. There is no way that I can repay what was done for me. Today my measuring cup is larger and continues to grow. I am so grateful. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself ..JRE
Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called his disciples to Himself and said to them, As assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more that all those who have given to the treasury: for they all put out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. MARK 12:42-44 NKJV
Dont you just know that she got blessed? Thanks for letting me share .JRE
http://www.jerryengland.blogspot.com
