Acts 20:33-35. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Most often when we as preachers quote that verse,

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’, it’s to encourage others to give. But that wasn’t the original context the Apostle was speaking from. He was actually referring to how He, Paul has been giving from his own hard earned earnings(not tithes and offerings).

I love the mindset of Paul, and that’s how I want to order my life and ministry. Even though he knew that it wasn’t wrong  for the people to give material things after receiving spiritual things from him(1Cor 9:11), yet he purposed not to depend on that and to work with his own hands. To the extent that he took care of the team he was working with, not from offerings or seeds or tithes, but from earnings from his own handiworks.  So he could boldly tell the people, “I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing”. Whoosh! And yet his impact in the ministry work was unrivaled.

I am not saying it is wrong to take offerings or seeds. The true child of God will love to give towards God’s work and to God’s servants without even being required to do so. But I am dealing with the heart of a true Shepherd as against the heart of a wolf.

The true shepherd struggles to take from the flock but seeks to give to them, even up to his very life. That’s why Jesus is our CHIEF SHEPHERD who gave us everything including his life – and we as shepherds must seek to emulate him fully.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR WHAT YOU WOULD RECEIVE, OR ARE YOU SEEKING TO GIVE? Selah! Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!

              GRACEFUL MORNING