The Sweet Cycle of Giving

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”  2 Cor 9:15 

Today is the last day of November, and tomorrow we move from a season of giving thanks to one of giving gifts.  The transition should not be difficult.  Gratefulness and giving just go together—kind of like Snoopy and Charlie, Mickey and Minnie, peanut butter and jelly, chocolate and…anything!  But actually gratefulness and giving are better described as a cycle than as a couple, for when we are given something, the blessings which bring gratitude should naturally result in generosity.

Try taking this angle as you approach this time of gift-giving.  As you look down your Christmas list, instead of seeing names of people you have to buy something FOR, see them as those you have been blessed BY, and let your present be a gift of gratitude.  God had graced our lives with family, friends, and acquaintances (even the boss who lets us keep our jobs, the carrier of our mail, or the leaders at our church), and these people fill our lives with much joy, comfort, and delight.  As a thanks to God and as a thanks to them for who they are and what they do, we should share who we are and what we have—which, by the way, is also a blessing from God that often comes through the very people to whom we are giving. 

As the Apostle Paul encouraged his friends in Corinth to send gifts to needy Christians in another city, he reminded them that “this service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God…Because of your gift, men will praise God for you and in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you”(2 Cor 9:12-14).  See the cycle?  God had blessed the Corinthians with money for which they were grateful and which they were willing to share, and though those who were needy could not give back material gifts, their gratitude for the generous blessing resulted in thanksgiving and praise to God and in prayers being lifted up on the behalf of the ones who gave.  (Remember that quite often, the best gifts can’t be bought!)

This progression of blessing, gratitude, and giving should be repeated often, for the attitude of our hearts should be shaped each morning by the words Paul used at the end of his instruction.  “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”(2 Cor 9:15).  Everything we give can be described and explained, but the love and grace of God that showed up in a manger and shouted at on the cross cannot be fully expressed.  He is indescribable.

As thanks-giving rolls into gift-giving, remember that you’ve been blessed to be a blessing.  Be grateful.  Be generous.  And be blessed again.

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”(2 Cor 9:15).