God's Encouraging Gifts - Quick Story

At times, God's giving comes as a surprise. I remember when Sarah and I were preparing to move to Brooklyn to work at Bethel Baptist, our car broke down somewhere in NC. As I leaned over an open hood staring at a dead engine, a man pulled up in his pickup truck and looked down at the dead car with me.

"Looks like it might be the battery." We agreed. He took me to a spot nearby and I bought a battery. But after we put it in, we realized it still wasn't getting juice. This was going to be a big ticket repair.

He was a local and had a friend who had a car dealership, so he offered to get us in line there. "Ok." I didn't realize that dealerships charge top dollar for their repairs. (So many things to learn young Tim!) We went and, sure enough, we needed extensive work done... more than just a battery.

I had already purchased a battery. Still to come -- the rest of the drive back and forth to NYC, trying to find an apartment and move... and now a large car-repair bill! My stomach sunk (not sure if that's a phrase) as Sarah and I waited while they did the work, wondering how much it would cost and how long we would need to be there. Would they take a payment plan?

I didn't get to find out the answer to that question. They were done in just a couple of hours. As I came to the counter to find out the amount that was due, the bill read "paid in full." "What? Who paid it?" "The person wants to remain anonymous." 

I hadn't shared the problem with anyone but our Heavenly Father and He took care of it. I'll tell you one thing, we kept that paid in full receipt for some time to look back and remember God's provision.

The same is true spiritually. God gives freely to us. We don't rely on our works of righteousness, but on His mercy earned through Jesus. Jesus is the One Who "Paid our debt in full." Don't ever get over that receipt of payment. So have so many moral debts; these are crimes against a true and just Judge. But at the bottom of the whole list of payments due -- where the total should be, a red stamp reads: "Paid in full."

And those who have been given much through the Gospel love to give as an overflow to others... at times even anonymously. As we received that day years ago. Perhaps Jesus encourages us to give so anonymously that we don't even notice our own giving!

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."

Matthew 6:1–4 (NASB95)