PRESSED
Give and it will be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you.(Luke 6:38)
I love this verse. It challenges me in my giving. It reminds that I need to be giver if I want to be a receiver; and believe me I want to be a receiver. Early this morning it seems the Lord brought to my heart some perspective that I had not considered in this verse. He used it to speak to me of the pressing the shaking and the overflowing.
Some would like to believe that the return is instantaneous every time we give. The truth is that there are continual blessings coming our way, which our giving opens up for us. It is also true that some of our giving takes some time to produce all that God has prepared to do to us and through us.
As we give, whether it is time, money, help and etc., there is some pressing necessary. We cannot just give because we have discovered giving. We need to give in faith. Along with our giving, we need to be pressing into our relationship with God. We can’t just make a token gesture, no matter what size it is. We need to be pressing in. We cannot just look for what comes back to us. We need to be hungry for Jesus to live His life out in us. We must desire that He press in so that there is less and less room for our old will and ways.
When we give we are not just planting so that our harvest of things will increase. We also want Him to increase. The amount of Jesus that has place in us determines how much capacity we have for the other things that God can pour through us.
Scripture continues to be a line upon line message. All of it has to be kept tightly tied together in our lives. If a person is a generous giver, but does not have the Love that only Jesus can pour out, then that person has missed what God is pressing for.
God said that we most certainly should give. Freely we receive and freely we should give. The measure we use is the same measure that is used to give back to us. And just as surely and God is compacting and pressing it down so that there is room for more to send back. He is also watching to see how we are pressing and making room for the life of Christ to be imparted to us and through us.
So keep giving and you will keep receiving, but don’t forget to press and keep in mind that God is pressing down and making room for more love, more power, and more of Him in our lives.