Giving is receiving

I heard is said once that one way to distinguish the moment you become an adult is how you look at two things: baths and sleeping. To adults, sleep and bubble baths are luxuries and not something to complain about and endure.

The Christmas season reminds me of another thing that happens seamlessly between childhood and adulthood. At some point in our maturation process, we begin to look forward to people opening presents that we pick out for them more than we look forward to receiving presents. I am not sure when this happened to me.  I can say with all honesty and sincerity that I do not think of what great present I might have under the Christmas Tree. However, I look forward with great anticipation to seeing the reaction of a loved one opening presents. 

The bible says, “It is more blessed to give than receive.”(Acts 20:35) We are blessed more by giving than receiving.  Or in other words, we receive much more by giving.  This principle also replies to praising God.  In scriptures we are commanded to worship God more times than any other command. This might seem strange at first glance. Why would an all-powerful, perfect, and holy God need praise from His people? As is the case with gift giving, we get much more out of our offering of praise than we give. God does not need our praise, we do. God’s instruction to praise Him shows is immense love for us not his vanity. John Piper, in his amazing book, Desiring God, states this principle well:

This is love,

because in pursuing the praise of his name

in the hearts of his people,

he commands the very thing

that completes our joy.

God commands us to praise Him, because it is what is best for us. When we give an offering of praise to God, we are actually receiving the joy of doing the one thing that we were created to do, and the thing that we will do eternally.