Most Giving Is Really a Trade

graffiti depicting arrows, spray painted on a wall

I heard someone say this last week—”Most giving is really a trade.” I keep thinking about it. How much of love is really a trade? When someone sings, “I can’t live without you”—are they really thinking about what is best for the other person?  If we go to a church because there are “good people” there, or because we get “fed,” isn’t it a trade? Do some people stop going because they don’t see the trade as valuable enough?

For me, the love of Christ shatters my petty self concept. There simply doesn’t seem to be a tangible payback for him. And the heart of love is giving. How long would it really take us to hear once again the power of these words? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son….”

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