“It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
There is an old story that goes like this:
An unusual tree grew outside the gates of a desert city in the Middle East. It was an old tree, a landmark as a matter of fact. It seemed to have been touched by the finger of God, for it bore fruit perpetually.
Despite its old age, its limbs were constantly laden with fruit.
Hundreds of passersby refreshed themselves from the tree as it never failed to give freely.
But then a greedy merchant purchased the property on which the tree grew. He saw hundreds of travelers “robbing” his tree, and he built a high fence around it. Travelers pleaded, “Share with us.” The merchant quoted in return, “It is my tree, my fruit, bought with my money.” And a strange thing happened: the old tree died! What had happened? The law of giving, as predictable as the law of gravity, had expressed its immutable principle: when a tree stops giving, it stops bearing, and it dies.
Yes, this story illustrates well the law of give-and-receive. And when I think of how much I take from God’s world, I bow in guilt at how little I give to His work. “But this I say, He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly” (2 Corinthians 9:6).