<p>5:42&nbsp;<em>Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would</em>- Luke says that the Lord taught that we should &ldquo;give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again&rdquo; (Lk. 6:38). We might have expected Him to say: &lsquo;Give generously, with a good, running over measure, and this is what you will receive in return&rsquo;. But He doesn&rsquo;t. He says simply &ldquo;Give&rdquo;; and then we will be given to in a generous measure, because with what measure we use in our giving, we will receive. Thinking it through, He means surely that &ldquo;giving&rdquo;, by His definition, means a generous, well packed, abundant giving; for that&nbsp;<em>is&nbsp;</em>Christian giving. And note that the context of Lk. 6:38 is the Lord talking about not being critical and judgmental of others, but rather forgiving and accepting them. It is our 'giving' in this sense which is to be so full and generous. Only God&rsquo;s grace / giving can inspire this attitude within us, as we live hemmed in by the people of a materialistic, mean world, where nobody takes up a cross for anyone else. This is why Paul makes a play on the word &lsquo;grace&rsquo; when writing to the Corinthians about giving; for&nbsp;<em>charis</em>, &ldquo;grace&rdquo;, means &lsquo;giving&rsquo;. He urges them to not receive God&rsquo;s grace in vain, but rather, motivated by it, to give grace to others (2 Cor. 6:1; 8:6,7,19).&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Borrow from you</em>- The Greek strictly means to borrow for interest. Seeing this was illegal under the Law of Moses, the Lord is saying that we should just lend- but not for interest. We would all soon bankrupt if we read this as it stands in many English translations. Or it could be that the Lord was aware that He was talking to extremely poor people who had so little to lend that it was not as hard for them to take Him seriously on this point as it is for those who have so much more.</p>
<p>According to Luke&rsquo;s record here, the Lord taught that we must love our enemies &ldquo;and lend [in whatever way] never despairing&rdquo; (Lk. 6:35 RV). The Lord sought to inculcate in His followers His same positive spirit. To never give up with people, for all the losses, the casualties, the hurt&hellip; never despairing of humanity. This was and is the spirit of Jesus.</p>