Christian Crier
Here are seven of the top Bible verses regarding financial giving.
Matthew 5:42 “Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
By Jesus’ saying “give to the one who begs from you” He is not saying empty your pockets and give them everything you’ve have but at least you can offer them some kind of help. That is our calling as Christians to encounter those are in need in our culture as doing it for Jesus like when He said, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink” (Matt 25:35) because just “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matt 25:40).
Proverbs 19:17 “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.”
This verse may not have the actual reference to giving but that’s exactly what it’s about. God will see you being generous to the poor as if you were lending to Him, not that He needs anything. God will repay the person who’s generous to the poor so being generous to the poor allows God to be generous to them. Someday when Christ comes “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matt 25:40) as “whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward” (Matt 10:42).
Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Since Judea was surrounded by agriculture interests, Jesus used this vivid imagery of God giving back to the giver. Imagine you bring a sack to the market and want it filled with grain. The worker fills the sack to the top but then since this person is a generous and giving person, the manager comes up and presses down on the grain in the sack so that more grain can be given. The owner of the company sees what’s happening and he comes over and puts the full sack in your lap and shakes it so that more grain can be added and then he pours out so much it spills over into your lap. Now all of your giving is being “measured back to you” and then some!
Proverbs 11:24 “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.”
The irony to this verse is that the one who gives away the most gathers back more but the one who holds onto what he’s got ends up for want. The more you give, the more you receive but the more you hold, the less there is to hold. The world thinks in just the opposite ways of this biblical principle. Giving freely opens up opportunities for God to bless you. When you give and bless others, God will bless you but when you withhold giving, God will withhold His blessings. I heard one man say “Never resist a generous impulse.”
Matthew 6:2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”
And Matthew adds “when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matt 6:3) which means to give without thinking about it or remembering it. If you give and remember, God will forget but giving without telling, God will remember. If you tell others about what you gave then you’ve already received your reward for that it it’s the praise of men. There’ll be nothing more.
Second Corinthians 9:6 “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
Every farmer knows that if he or she sows very sparingly they will reap very sparingly. That is the exact idea behind Paul writing that “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2nd Cor 9:8) because “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2nd Cor 9:10). That sounds like a win-win.
Proverbs 22:16 “Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.”
Unfortunately people tend to put “their hopes on the uncertainty of riches” (1st Tim 6:17) but these riches cannot save them on the day of God’s visitation. It seems the richer a person gets, the more they want and the poor suffer as a result of it. It does seem that the rich increase their wealth at the expense of the poor.
Conclusion
God is the greatest of all givers as He gave His only Son so that we might have eternal life (John 3:16) and “He gives more grace. Therefore it says, “’God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:6) so until a person humbles themselves before God, He cannot give them His grace. He is opposed to the proud because they are opposed to Him. God will not give grace where a humble heart is not there to receive it. If you are born again then remember what Jesus said in Matthew 10:42 “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward” because He sees it as doing it for Him (Matt 25:40).
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.
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