“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” – (Acts 20:35)

In 1872 a young man of thirty-three became a millionaire. By 1882, just ten years later, this same individual, at the still young age of forty-three, was in control of the largest business in the world. By the time 1892 rolled around, just twenty years after that first million was made, John D. Rockefeller had parlayed that small fortune into a cool billion dollars. At age fifty-three, John D. became the only billionaire in the world.

Few men have been as obsessed as John D. Rockefeller was in making money. He was possessed by a driving force that might cause us to redefine “workaholic.” Coupled with this unquenchable desire to make money was a lack of consideration for others. In fact, he hurled many a helpless competitor into bankruptcy. He was so hated that these same now penniless individuals hanged him in effigy in the oil fields of Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately for John D., by the time he reached fifty-three he could little enjoy his weekly income of one million dollars. He had contracted a condition called alopecia. Not only did he lose the hair off his head, but he lost most of the hair off his eyelashes and eyebrows. In addition, his digestion became so bad that he could only eat crackers and milk.

He looked like death warmed over. It was the general consensus that he wouldn’t see his fifty-fourth birthday. In fact, the newspapers had already written his obituary and expected to use it any day. His health was gone, his sleep had fled him, and the only thing he had left to him was his haunting memories of a life of misery.

With death knocking at the door, John D. Rockefeller, suddenly, in a moment of insight, began to contemplate a concept spoken of by Jesus Christ: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” From that point on his entire outlook on life radically changed. Instead of hoarding his great wealth, he began to give it away as fast as he had made it. Hospitals, universities, and millions of less fortunate people were blessed by one man’s generosity, unparalleled in the history of humanity. When all was said and done his philanthropies totaled some $500 million.

Just as there are certain physical laws that govern our universe, there are also God’s eternal laws that dictate our emotional well-being. Perhaps without knowing the source, John D. Rockefeller accepted the challenge of Acts 20:35 and started to put into practice the blessed act of giving. Almost immediately his sleep returned to him. He began to eat normally and life finally started to be enjoyable. In return for his generosity he received the gift of life, to the tune of an extra forty-five years of living, till the ripe old age of ninety-eight.

Not only did this great philanthropist discover that it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive, but that in reality when you give, you receive also. Forty-five years more life, and the admiration of the entire world, were credited to the account of John D. Rockefeller the moment he began to share his wealth.