Jesus and Churchill: the blessing of giving

I used to have a book on my bookshelf with the title, "Difficult Sayings of Jesus."  It was 'twinned' with another book called "More Difficult Sayings of Jesus."  Both books were aiming to address some of the sayings of Jesus from the Gospels which are not so easy to understand.  The truth is that although the Bible is a truly amazing book through which God can speak to us, there are some passages which appear rather obtuse to the modern reader.  Having said that, I remember one commentator saying, "It's not the things in the Bible which I don't understand that trouble me, it's the things I do understand!"  The point he was making was that the Bible can be very challenging indeed.

Jesus made it very clear to his hearers that his teaching was not mere theory; he expected that all those who followed him would put into practice what he taught.  Indeed, he told the parable of the two housebuilders to emphasise the point that his words are to be obeyed.

As Christmas draws near, I have been thinking about one particular saying of Jesus, namely that 'it is more blessed to give than to receive.'  (Acts 20.35).  When I was a child, much of the excitement at this time of the year was in anticipating what presents I might receive on Christmas Day.  These days, I find much more joy in giving someone something which they really appreciate.  

There is real blessing in giving, perhaps something which our consumerist society is in danger of overlooking.  I was fascinated to read of some research recently undertaken by researchers at the London School of Economics.  What they discovered is that we human beings seem to be 'hard-wired' for helping others.  By measuring brain activity and hormones they have discovered that helping others delivers immense pleasure.  The more we give, the happier we feel.  The recent issue of a magazine published by Pilgrims' Friend Society also pointed out that 'studies have found that people who regularly help others live longer than those who don't.'

Just another example to show that Jesus really did know what he was talking about.  All we have to do now is put it into action!  I can't help but think of the words of Winston Churchill, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.'