Bro. Eddie Ministries: The Word Gives InstructionSample

Those who often take than give are losers. They take yet they are not satisfied. They just don’t get enough. The name of their game is just to take. Should they have known that it is more blessed to give than to receive, then they could have been happier than they wished to be. (Acts 20:35)

God loves those who give genuinely. He loves them who give cheerfully. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Those who scarcely give cannot get extra blessings from God. It is written, “One man gives freely, yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. People curse the man who hoards grain, but blessings crown him who is willing to sell.” (Proverbs 11:24-26, NIV)

Should we give so that people will see and praise us for what we have done? Jesus said in Matthew 6:1-4, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from Your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.”

We must give to God’s work and to those who are in need. After all, all that we possess belongs to Him. We are just His stewards.

There was this story of a woman whose means of living

Those who often take than give are losers. They take yet they are not satisfied. They just don’t get enough. The name of their game is just to take. Should they have known that it is more blessed to give than to receive, then they could have been happier than they wished to be. (Acts 20:35)

God loves those who give genuinely. He loves them who give cheerfully. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Those who scarcely give cannot get extra blessings from God. It is written, “One man gives freely, yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. People curse the man who hoards grain, but blessings crown him who is willing to sell.” (Proverbs 11:24-26, NIV)

Should we give so that people will see and praise us for what we have done? Jesus said in Matthew 6:1-4, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from Your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.”

We must give to God’s work and to those who are in need. After all, all that we possess belongs to Him. We are just His stewards.

There was this story of a woman whose means of living was to raise hogs for market. When one of them was about to give birth, she asked God to give her 10 piglets. She promised she would give the five piglets to the Lord if He would give her 10. When the piglets came out, there were 10. But five of them were dead. So the woman prayed again. “Lord, I am sorry, Your five piglets died.”

The woman did not fulfill her promise. She assumed that those that were dead belonged to God. Did the piglets that she claimed to be hers stay alive? Not all of them. Because four of them died after two weeks.

What happened may have been a test God gave the woman to see where her heart was. What she did revealed that her heart was after the blessing and not after Him who gives the blessing. The story teaches us to check our motives in giving.

No one can exceed God when it comes to giving. In fact every good thing that we have comes from Him. (James 1:17)

So why should we withhold what others would have need of? Why should we keep back what God’s ministry would need to have?

This truth never changes. God is able to give back to us in whatever form what we have given to Him and to others.

Reflection:
1. Was there a time that you withheld from somebody the thing that he badly needed? What did you feel then?
2. What do you do to resist the evil of selfishness?

Giving takes away the greed in us.