"Giving"

BIBLE READING: Acts 20.35        
A teenage boy, Jack, is riding his aging bicycle down the road when he is pulled over by one of his friends, Tom.  Tom was sporting a new car.  As he exited the car he told Jack that it was a gift from his brother.  He continued to show all of the extras the car had and how plush the insides were.
Jack was taken aback by the costly gift Tom's brother had given him.  For a moment he was speechless.  Even though he hadn’t said anything, Tom had a good idea what he was thinking.  Jack opened his mouth and said, "I wish I…."  Tom didn't even listen to what Jack actually said for he knew he was going to say he wished he had a brother like Tom.  However, what came out of Jack's mouth was a surprise.  Jack said, "I wish I could be a brother like that!"
Jack has the right idea about gift giving.  As our text says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."  It is a higher privilege; it tends more to the happiness of the individual and of the world.  The giver is more blessed or happy than the receiver.  This appears:
(1)  Because it is a condition for which we should be thankful when we are in a situation to promote the happiness of others.
(2)  Because it tends to promote the happiness of the benefactor himself.  It gives one happiness in the act when done with pure motives.

(3)  It is blessed in the reward that shall result from it.  Those who give from a pure motive God will bless.  They will be rewarded, not only in the peace which they shall experience in this life, but in the higher bliss of heaven. (Matthew 25:34-36)  

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