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Jesus encourages us to give
Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.
Luke 6:38 (New King James Version)
For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.
From the above verse, Jesus encourages us to give. The general lesson from that scripture is giving. It is a practice that may be difficult for many. Yet, we must intentionally learn to do so. There are various ways by which we can practise giving. Giving tithes and offerings to the church is one of the ways by which we can practise giving. This is why “… all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, … brought the LORD’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewellery of gold… an offering … to the LORD.” (Exodus 35:20-22, NKJV).
Again, the Scripture says, “Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they were distributed to each as anyone had need.” (Acts 4:34-35, NKJV). The people who had properties in the early church sold them and brought the proceeds to support the church. We can also give to the poor or needy in society, our parents, siblings, friends, family and others. Unfortunately, the church has excessively stressed on tithes and offerings to the point that folks are comfortable to give to the church but ignore their neighbours.
Beyond tithes and offerings
Many believers tend to see the giving of tithes and offerings as the highest form of giving. It is religion that makes us put tithing and offerings ahead of other forms of giving. The church must emphasise giving as an important aspect of our walk with God. Thus, all types of giving and not just tithes and offerings. When this is done, believers would not ignore the people around them to focus on only tithes and offerings.
We must keep in mind that giving to God in the form of tithes and offerings can actually be equated to giving to the poor or needy in society, to our parents, siblings, friends, family and others. It is for this reason that Jesus said, “for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” (Matthew 25:35-40, NKJV).
Unto our neighbours as unto God
John also emphasised this point by saying, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20, NKJV). It is hypocrisy (see Break The Chains Of Hypocrisy And Step Into A New Life With Self-honesty) that makes us give to God and not to our fellow men.
As believers, we must bear in mind that when we give to our fellow men, we have actually given it to God. But when we deny our fellow men what we have, we also deny God. Therefore, anytime we give to our fellow men cheerfully, we can have the expectation that God would reward us in return.
And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
Colossians 3:23-24 (New King James Version)
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance;
for you serve the Lord Christ.
If we can accept this simple truth and practice it then we cannot contain the blessings that would come to us.
There are believers who don’t properly practice the act of giving. They feel that they don’t have enough and for that matter they cannot give. The fact is that we are not expected to have enough before we practice giving. We can practice giving regardless of whether we have enough resources or not. There will always be somebody that we can give to, if we are mindful to do so. Our goal then is to be able to identify such people around us and be a blessing to them. In doing that, God will also bless us.
Two groups of people
There is one who scatters, yet increases more;
Proverbs 11:24 (New King James Version)
And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.
From the above Scripture Solomon describes two groups of people. First, there are people who scatter what they have through giving. Even though these people scatter what they have, which may be interpreted as losing, they eventually increase. Contrarily, there are people who hold on to all they have with the mindset of gaining but they end up becoming poor. It is a paradox! The reason is that God designed an increase to only come through the avenue of scattering or spreading seeds. Which is why “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22, NKJV). Therefore, holding on to the seeds without scattering them will not yield anything. All of us must be conscious about this important principle.
The testimony of Cornelius
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.
Acts 10:1-4 (New King James Version)
Cornelius simply prayed to God and gave to the people around Him. I suspect he did them basically because he liked to pray and give. Unbeknownst to him, God had taken notice of his prayers and giving. Which is why the angel said to him in the vision that his prayers and alms had actually come before God as a memorial. I believe many people prayed in Cornelius’ day but combining prayers with alms-giving separated Cornelius, as unique, before God. What a testimony! Thus, giving has the power to draw the attention of God to a person. I know most people pray. If we can genuinely practice giving (in addition to our prayers) then we will also attract the attention of God in our lives.
We must understand that the principle of giving is key to our success in life. It opens doors for greater blessing from God who would not hesitate to entrust us with such great blessings, knowing that we are capable of handling them.
Let’s keep the fire burning until the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ!