June 25, 2024 Daily Dose of Discernment

"Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life." (Matthew 19:29)

Except maybe for some extremely corrupt church leaders, no one in the history of the Church has given away houses and farms and received many of the same in return. That goes for the multiplication of family as well. Jesus is obviously speaking hyperbolically and figuratively. His purpose is to give us an idea of the enormity of the blessings of the fullness of life he wants us to have, which is greater and more fulfilling than material things. At the same time, he shows us the way to that life.

If we are motivated by material returns when we give, we are missing the point. Because Jesus' point is that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Only when this principle guides us will we receive what is exceedingly beyond what we can ask or imagine.