During World War II this slogan was often heard: "Give until it hurts." Now, that may be all right for the world, but certainly it is not a proper slogan for the Christian who wants to be all that he should be for the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have given to the Lord and it still hurts, my friend, then you have not yet given enough. Our motto must always be, according to Scripture, "Give until it feels good."

If it hurts for you to give to Him who gave His all for you, it's a foregone conclusion that you haven't yet given all you should. God doesn't ask you to give for His sake so much as for your own sake. God, after all, doesn't need your gifts. He wants you to give for your own benefit, because "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

Our Lord certainly has no need for our gifts, for as Paul said in Acts 17:24-25, "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things."

It is for our benefit, then, that He wants us to share the joy of giving. Do you have that joy?   — M.R. De Haan