Giving Back: What if we are doing it all wrong?

You've heard it all before -- how we need to give back to society, how we need to pay it forward.  How it is important for us to make a difference in the world.  This idea is based on the concept that someone else somewhere did something for you so you should do something for someone else.

But it may be that we are missing a step.   I don't think we give back by giving to other people.  I don't think we give back by paying it forward.  I don't think we give back by making a difference in the world.   At least not directly.

What if it went like this:   God does something for us (in fact, this is how it all began) so we give back to HIM.   Then He uses us to give to someone else.  It's in the giving it back to Him that we have four things:

1)  The wisdom to know who the person/people are that need our help;

2)  The resources (love, joy, peace, time, money etc) to give to others;

3)  The courage to do so when it might not be popular in the eyes of others; and

4)  The strength to carry it through even when it doesn't seem to be making a difference.

So let's join Mandisa and say to God, "I'm giving it all back to you."   Let's pray that God will use what we give back to him to allow us to give to others.