Verse of the day: Luke 11:13

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

The ‘How Much More’ God

Think of the purest, most instinctual moment of giving you’ve ever experienced. Perhaps it was watching a child's eyes light up as you handed them a longed-for toy, or the simple joy of giving a friend a warm meal. In that moment, your love overcame any selfishness or exhaustion. You knew, without a doubt, that you wanted to give something good.

This is the exact human experience Jesus taps into in one of the most comforting passages in all of Scripture: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

Jesus begins with a startling admission: "being evil." He’s not calling us monstrous; he’s acknowledging our shared human reality. We are flawed, inconsistent, and often selfish. And yet, even in our imperfection, our love for our children is so powerful that we instinctively give them what is good and nourishing. We give bread, not stones; fish, not serpents.

Then comes the pivot, the two words that should re-shape our prayer life: "how much more." This isn't a small step up; it's an infinite leap. Jesus is asking us to imagine our own flawed capacity for love and then multiply it by the perfection, purity, and infinite power of God. The result is a generosity so vast it’s almost incomprehensible. This is our Father. He is the "How Much More" God.

And what is the ultimate gift He is eager to give? Not just solutions or possessions, but the Holy Spirit. He wants to give us Himself—His presence to guide us, His comfort to sustain us, and His power to transform us.

I often think of this verse as a medieval illuminated manuscript. In the bottom corner, you’d see a simple, earthly father handing his child a loaf of bread—a beautiful, but limited, act of love. But the rest of the page, the vast majority of it, would be bathed in gold leaf. From a glorious cloud at the top, the hand of God would be releasing a pure white dove, the Holy Spirit, which descends on a ray of pure light. The gold signifies the divine, heavenly reality. The dove isn't just a gift from God; it is God, present with us.

The image reminds us that our small, earthly acts of goodness are just a faint echo of God’s magnificent generosity. If we, in our weakness, can give good things, how much more can our perfect Father be trusted? The next time you feel hesitant to approach God, remember this. You are not coming to a stingy king or a reluctant giver. You are coming to your Father, who waits with a gift far greater than you can imagine, ready to give you His very Spirit. All you have to do is ask.




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