Today's ODB, "Hoarding or Helping", helped reaffirm in me the concept of God's economy, something it took me a long time and some painful lessons to learn.
Once guided by worldly wisdom, I lived life as an endless quest to accumulate things. The aim of my life was to pursue and possess as much of the things I thought were important - money, status, rank, acclaim, security - as I could get my hands on. I might still be on that quest had I not experienced a sudden, unforseen loss of just about everything I had considered important.
It took the loss of those things to help me learn that everything I once had wasn't really mine to begin with. Learning to live without those things wasn't pleasant at first, but helped me understand I could live without them and realize I had overestimated their importance. God used this experience to humble me and to give me a greater understanding of His grace through which all worthwhile things come. My circumstances for a time were such that I could only count on His grace, for His grace was all I had. It turned out to be more than sufficient.
I have since experienced restoration of material blessings, but know my good fortune is not attributable to anything other than the grace of God. As such, I have come to view nothing as my own. I live my life quite differently than before - not perfectly, but determined to use the things He has given me to glorify Him. I've learned that I cannot outgive God, and the more time, talent, and treasures I give back to Him, the more of Him I get. That's a lopsided trade if there ever was one!
I don't give because I get, but I get because I give. I don't understand why it works this way, but I know that it does. Thanks be to God!!
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