Taking is like a social debt.
What I do affects how my neighbors live. And the more globalized our world becomes, the more my neighbors become people in Africa and Asia and other places.
Giving, on the other hand, is more like an investment.
It’s not always one-to-one. Not everyone you help will help you back. So it’s hard to measure in the short term.
But have you ever noticed: no one ever mentions job titles at funerals? They always talk about what the person did for others. Even if they’re lying–that’s what they eulogize about.
The reason we act this way is because this is how God designed us. Sin comes from (our) taking. Salvation from (God’s) giving. It’s good to give.
Warren Buffet, the famous investor, reportedly makes every investment as if he plans to never sell it. Whether it’s literally true or not, that kind of philosophy has worked pretty well for him. $80 billion well.
The point: taking is finite. We can only handle so much. But giving is infinite. The more we do it, the better those around us are. The more we begin to think like our Creator. And, ironically, the stronger we become.
Living like this is a long-game. The key here is to focus on the process and not the outcome. The giving, not the getting.
P.S. Taking is not the same as accepting. Taking leave a void while accepting validates someone else’s giving.
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