FOR if you give, you will get! Your gift will return to you in full and overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use to give—large or small—will be used to measure what is given back to you,” Luke 6:38 (TLB).
Whenever people come across the above scripture, the first thing that comes to mind is giving an offering in church. While this carries some truth in it, it does not carry the entire truth.
The above passage relates much more than just giving of money for an offering.
It actually deals with giving of our gifts, abilities and talents into the ground of our lives.
In Other Words, a publication of the Wycliffe Bible Translators, recently told a story about Sadie Sieker, who served for many years as a house-parent for missionaries’ children in the Philippines.
Sadie loved books. Though she gladly loaned out some, others she treasured in a footlocker under her bed.
Once, in the quiet of the night, Sadie heard a faint gnawing sound.
After searching all around her room, she discovered that the noise was coming from her footlocker. When she opened it, she found nothing but an enormous pile of dust. All the books she had kept to herself had been lost to termites. What we give away, we keep. What we hoard, we lose.
This above illustration best shows the power of giving, and thus exchanging our gifts.
Life is designed with this law embedded into the very fabric of the universe. We cannot keep anything we hoard, and we get to not only retain what we give, but it comes back multiplied and running over.
When it comes to money, the Law of Exchange deals with what actually brings about its acquisition. In the first place there must be a giving of something that is valuable, and only then do you expect or even receive back what you gave in another form or in the same form but multiplied. Throughout life, we exchange our labour (value) for goods and services.
When we speak of labour, think of a gift, ability or talent that is of value to another person.
Whenever labour is needed, people will seek to acquire it and be willing to pay. Money is the medium of exchange by which this transaction is done.
Now money is the measure of value people place on goods and/or services prevalent in a given place. Depending on what goods or services you seek, you will need less or more money.
In order to make that acquisition possible, your labour will become the factor that makes this a reality. Your labour is viewed as a value/cost to someone else who is in need of it.
The money you earn is the measure of the value people place on the abilities, skills, goods or services you offer. Payment always comes in direct proportion to the following;
a)  The work you do – This has always been the heart of the matter and herein is the truth about whether we go on to accumulate wealth or not. The above quoted verse refers to this factor here. Technically, the more work you do, the more payment you receive.
However, how much you get is always conditional and only realised if the next two points are met.
b) How well you do it – The ability to effectively and efficiently expend the work you are hired to do will always determine how much more you can earn. Effectively means successful in producing a desired or intended result and efficiently means doing so with the least amount of resources thus achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.
This will guarantee more payment for the work done. Learning to leverage is always the most powerful way to get this done.
c) The difficulty of replacing you – Herein lays your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). When seeking what abilities, skills, goods or services to disperse in the market place, ensure that you give ones that are very unique (not common) and yet address a very common and basic need. The more common and widespread the need is, the more people will be willing to pay for it and this translates into larger
amounts of money.
This is why mass market products or services will always generate mass amounts of money. Herein is an example of the Law of Exchange in full effect.
Another important factor when it comes to this law is that money is an effect, not a cause! It is simply the reaping that comes from a specific set of activities we would consider planting or a cause.
The cause is the work, goods, services or value you put in. To increase the income you earn, you must increase the value you are putting in.
Here’s one of my favorite equations that sum this all up, Wealth = Time + Effort + Value.
Time is universal and equally deposited in every man’s life so it’s the most common factor. Effort is less common but universally generated as well. As far as effort goes, the greater the skills being given, the better the returns.
However, Value is the greatest single determining factor in how much one gets at the end of the day.
Value determines how much you earn.
Value is perceived not by you but by those who seek it and if you can offer it, then they will pay for it.
In order to ensure that the value we give out it very high, we need to learn to leverage our earning ability by striving for personal development continually. Ensure that you learn all there is in
connection to what you offer. Then practice how to be effective in the disbursement of that thing of value. Lastly, take that skill, ability, talent or gift into the market place and create an awareness of it.
These will ensure that the Law of Exchange works to your advantage and sees you generate much deserved income.
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