The Giving Tree—I Mean, Tire

Short blog, big lesson.

When Stephen was just a wee little tot—well, maybe not so wee, more like five-ish—he accompanied his father on a visit to a family in a rural part of the community in which we ministered. When they came home, Stephen's smile almost blinded me.

"What happened?" I asked, raising my eyebrows as I watched him twirling a rickity looking bicycle tire (sorry, couldn't find a picture to match). A bicycle tire he had not had before the excursion with his dad.

"Some children I was playing with gave this to me!" His voice quivered with excitement as he played with said tire in the foyer of our rented home. As he obeyed my admonition to take the item being used much as a fidget is today into our minuscule backyard where there was more room, I turned to my husband. What was with the bicycle tire?

Shoulders slumping, he breathed his words out in a tone of defeat. "The children were so happy playing with Stephen, the son of the missionary, that they insisted on giving him the tire. " He raised eyes welling with pain to me. "I tried to tell them to keep it, it was easy to see that it was their only toy, but they wanted him to have it so badly, in the end I ... I didn't have the heart to refuse."

I sighed in commiseration. Sometimes it is so hard to accept a gift from someone we know has less than we do. But the gracious thing is to accept. A very hard thing to do at times.

What is the take away from that scene that is engraved in my memory as if it happened  just yesterday? First, Jesus' words that it is more blessed to give than to receive are true. Second, love is an action, a selfless action, that seeks to bless others with what one can. The third takes a bit of explaining.

I have heard people say, "They have more than I do, why should I give them something?" (Especially with regard to ministers.) But the giving is not about them. It's about us, what God is telling us to do. If we feel a nudge in our heart to give something to someone, the litmus test should not be what the recipient's net worth is but what God  is telling us. Those little children who gave the tire had less earthly goods than we did, yet their generosity moved my heart in a way that transcends the passage of time. It was a timeless, sacrificial gift that to this day fills me with tender wonder and gratitude. They might have had less insofar as worldly goods go, but the shining light of their giving spirit ministered to us then, and has continued to bless us through the passing of years. And I am sure, sure, sure that God saw and someway, sometime, multiplied that gift back to them (Ecclesiastes 11:1).

I, and other friends, at times have been prompted to give to strangers on the street, or to share a word of kindness or love with them. Maybe they had more than we did. Maybe the word of kindness was just a confirmation to them, something they didn't really need. But God in His divine wisdom knew that, regardless of the need we were filling for the recipient, the one who most needed that giving was the giver. Every time we give prompted by the Holy Spirit, we are made stronger spiritually because we have obeyed. We are blessed, because we have obeyed.

The widow in Zarephath obeyed the prophet and gave food to him before she and her soon partook of their meager fare. When he bade her to feed him first, she could have retorted vehemently, "Are you crazy? You're a man! You are much more able to seek work and food than I and my child." But God had prepared her heart to obey and, when she did, He multiplied her flour and oil throughout the time of famine (1 Kings 17:7-16). When God prompts us to give, it will always be to fulfill His purposes—and it will always be for our good.

May the Lord make us one and all sensitive to hear His voice, and quick to obey. May we all be motivated with the blessing of giving, just as those precious little children with the tire.

"I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, ... freely ye have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:5-8).