Day 17

Day 17 of Your Journey
How About a Radical Ambition?

“It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35 ESV).

This is perhaps one of the most radical proclamations our Savior made. The drastic nature of Jesus’ statement lies in the fact that there is absolutely no qualification given to it.

Jesus did not say, “It is more blessed to give than to receive, unless someone gives you this much money. Then receiving is a greater blessing.”

There is no tipping point to the promise. It is simply more blessed to give.

The implications to this are staggering. For instance, the blessing we receive when we give ten dollars in obedience to God is greater than if someone walked up and gave us a check for a million dollars!

Why? Because the blessing we get for giving is stored up in heaven, where “neither moth nor rust destroys” (Matt. 6:20). Jesus made it clear that our goal should be to store up treasure in heaven, not on earth.

I have met many men who had an ambition to make a million dollars. The founder of Life Action Ministries, Del Fehsenfeld Jr., had a unique ambition: to give away a million dollars.

In Del’s lifetime, through his own substantial personal giving and the giving of Life Action, he gave away over a million dollars. This he did on a missionary’s income. When he died at the age of 42, all he had given was waiting in heaven to lay at the feet of Christ.

Making It Personal

What is your ambition? Are you living for earthly riches, or are you storing up treasure in heaven?

The surest way to fight greed is to give. How can you give in an unusual way? Big or small, give to someone in need today.