The Blessing of Giving

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:7-8

Matthew 7:2 says, “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” You have to give to receive, in order to have something put in your hand, you must first remove what already exists in it… The bible says that the merciful are blessed not only because of their kind acts but also because true mercy calls for one to be humble and solely focused upon the Lord… Mercy is withholding or forgiving someone who has wronged you and/or caused pain and strife within you… Mercy is something that we all naturally do not extend to our fellowman; when I was a little boy I was instructed that when someone hit me I should hit them back; however, Jesus tells us that we must turn the other cheek… A merciful person is indeed blessed because they are walking in the will of God and therefore protected under His mighty hand… Matthew records that those who are merciful shall obtain mercy; we have all fallen short, we have all made bad choices and decisions, but as a child of God we cannot allow those things to be a stumbling block that hinders our growth and future aspirations! We must learn from our mistakes and seek the forgiveness of God as well as our fellow man… More importantly, we must be able to extend forgiveness to one another through pure and unconditional love so that our sins and poor choices may be forgiven by our Lord and Savior! Jesus informs us in the 18^th chapter of Matthew that the forgiveness of our sins are made possible by the forgiveness (mercy) that we extend to others… "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” If you want to obtain mercy from above, you must first extend mercy on earth… That's one of the core blessings received through giving!

ALL FOR HIS GLORY!