“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.” – 1 Peter 4:10
Right after handing Uncle Ming the $100, I started to regret it. The elderly man who hung around our neighbourhood looked poor, so I thought I’d give him a little something. When I noticed he had several bills in his wallet, I thought, Hey, he’s not so poor after all! Did I just waste my money?
As I was beginning to feel regret, he remarked: “Thank you for this! Now I can help our estate cleaner support his family. He earns so little!” His words put me to shame. While I was fretting over the prudency of helping him, Uncle Ming—who didn’t have that much himself—was ready to help others with similar or greater needs.
As the apostle Peter reminds us: “God has given each of [us] a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.” Ming was showing what it truly meant to take our gifts and “use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10).
Then it struck me that Uncle Ming’s generosity and compassion was also multiplying my gift to him. Despite my overly pragmatic approach towards giving, God in His grace was enabling me to help others through the elderly man. Through Uncle Ming, I could help others I didn’t even know.
Our loving God provides for those in need, sometimes in amazing, mysterious ways. May we be His obedient channel of giving out of love (V. 8) and trust Him to multiply our gifts.
– Leslie Koh
Is there someone you can help today or this week? Even a small act can be a big blessing.
Heavenly Father, please help me to be generous and faithful in my giving, for You have given me so much. Give me a heart that is sensitive enough to see the needs of others, so that I can learn to give generously in response to Your love and be a blessing to others. Please use me and help me to be a willing sharer. I pray that You will multiply whatever I give out of my heart. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.”
