Daily Manna · Day 139 · May 19
The Measure You Use
“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
A merchant's hands working a sack of grain. Filling the fold of a robe, pressing it down with a fist, shaking it so the grain settles, then pouring on until it spills over the knees and onto the floor.
That is the picture, and you know the accounting it is set against. You keep a running tally, whether or not you would use the word. Who owes an apology. Who got more than they deserved. What you gave that never came back.
Read where the sentence sits. This is not a fundraising verse. It is in the middle of a paragraph about how you treat people: Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto you. The generosity in view is generosity with human beings, and the grain is a picture of how God hands it back. Then the second half, which is a warning wearing the same clothes. With the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. The cup you use on other people is the cup that comes back to you full. Use a small one and you have chosen the size of your own portion.
One person came to mind while you were reading that. Hand them the wide measure this week, in something small and real: the benefit of the doubt in a message you would rather read badly, an invitation, money you never mention again. You are choosing the cup.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 139 is Turn Us Again (Psalm 80:3).