Give It Away, Watch It Grow
A daily doxa series for the UK church: What They Gave Up, What They Gained - Day 14
Welcome back to What They Gave Up, What They Gained—our daily doxa walk through Scripture. Each day we watch men and women make the trade: they lay down something real—reputation, safety, position, wealth, control—and God gives something better—clarity, courage, fruit that lifts people. We actively remember what God has promised and what He has already done so we can fight the good fight and win. Today we follow the open-handed ones whose generosity let **God’s rule—justice, mercy, love, joy, peace—**break into ordinary life. Grace first. Overflow, not effort.
Prophetic courage isn’t about being loud; it’s love that obeys. Grace first. Overflow, not effort.
Today’s trade
The trade: lay down resources, time, and convenience; receive people lifted, households strengthened, and a future widened.
Today we’re looking at Lydia, Zacchaeus, the Widow of Zarephath, the Shunammite woman, and the Boy with the Loaves—who gave up wealth, livelihood, or convenience and gained impact that carried God’s justice, mercy, love, joy, and peace into public life.
Gave up: money, time, reputation for prudence, and the comfort of keeping.
Gained: communities resourced, tables opened, and lives preserved.
There is always fire on acceptable sacrifice.
Lydia — opening a house that became a church (Acts 16:11–15, 40)
Context & date: Philippi (northern Greece), c. AD 49–50. A successful merchant in purple cloth and a worshiper of God hears Paul by the river.
Scene: sunlight on water; a businesswoman listening; keys turning in a front door.
Gave up: privacy, space, and business caution to host the apostles.
Courageous act/words: She and her household were baptised; she urged, “If you consider me a believer… come and stay at my house,” and her home became the Philippian church.
How it likely felt: stretching budgets and boundaries; joy stronger than prudence.
Felt cost: risk to reputation and clients; household disruption; ongoing expense.
Gained: a Spirit-filled hub where joy and peace took root in a Roman colony.
Fire on the sacrifice: open doors became an outpost of heaven in a hard city.
Zacchaeus — giving back more than he kept (Luke 19:1–10)
Context & date: Jericho, early AD 30s. A wealthy chief tax collector—viewed as a collaborator—meets Jesus.
Scene: a sycamore fig; a crowded street; dinner plans that scandalise a town.
Gave up: half his wealth and the fiction that money could fix his name.
Courageous act/words: “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half… and if I’ve cheated anybody, I repay fourfold.”
How it likely felt: fear and freedom colliding; choosing mercy over image.
Felt cost: shrinking accounts; public admissions; new habits.
Gained: a clean conscience, repaired relationships, and a home visited by salvation.
Fire on the sacrifice: restitution turned justice into something you could feel on the street.
The Widow of Zarephath — last flour, first miracle (1 Kings 17:8–16)
Context & date: Phoenicia (Zarephath), 9th century BC during a crippling drought in Ahab’s reign. A gentile widow meets Elijah.
Scene: a courtyard with a handful of flour; a prophet asking for bread.
Gave up: her last meal and the right to say, “I must look after my own first.”
Courageous act/words: She baked for Elijah first on his word.
How it likely felt: terrifying; mother’s instinct versus obedience.
Felt cost: the risk of immediate hunger for herself and her son.
Gained: a jar that didn’t empty; mercy that carried a household through famine.
Fire on the sacrifice: trust turned scarcity into daily provision.
The Shunammite Woman — a room for a prophet, a future for a family (2 Kings 4:8–37; 8:1–6)
Context & date: Shunem in northern Israel, 9th century BC in Elisha’s ministry. A “prominent woman” and her husband host God’s servant.
Scene: fresh sheets, a lamp, a small table; footsteps on the stairs.
Gave up: ongoing hospitality costs and the convenience of privacy.
Courageous act/words: She built a guest room for Elisha; later clung to God for her son’s life and obeyed the warning to relocate during a seven-year famine.
How it likely felt: steady generosity; later, fierce faith in grief.
Felt cost: finances, time, and public exposure; a risky move to preserve her family.
Gained: a promised child restored; property rights justly returned; a testimony of joy and peace after loss.
Fire on the sacrifice: a spare room became a pipeline of heaven’s life.
The Boy with the Loaves — small lunch, big table (John 6:1–13)
Context & date: Galilee, c. AD 28–30. A large crowd follows Jesus into a remote place. Food runs out.
Scene: grass underfoot; a woven basket; a boy’s open hands.
Gave up: the security of his own meal.
Courageous act/words: He handed over five loaves and two fish—all he had.
How it likely felt: shy; unsure; willing.
Felt cost: hunger now, with no guarantee of return.
Gained: thousands fed; fragments gathered; love and joy rippling through a crowd.
Fire on the sacrifice: little in a child’s hand became peace at a massive table.
Conclusion
Open hands don’t end with less; they begin with seed. A spare room becomes a lifeline. An apology with repayment becomes justice on the street. A table opens, and a church is born. This is God’s kingdom showing up—justice, mercy, love, joy, peace—on earth as it is in heaven.
Tomorrow: Work That Worships — Bezalel, Lydia (at work), Cornelius, Priscilla & Aquila, and Daniel. The trade: giving up compartmentalised faith to gain an integrated worhship at work.
We are bulding the doxa app to better remember what God has promised (prophecies) and what he has done (testimonies) so we can fight the good fight (and win).
We are bulding the doxa app to better remember what God has promised (prophecies) and what he has done (testimonies) so we can fight the good fight (and win).