The Joy of Giving
I have learned a number of important lessons in regards to “giving” in recent years. If only you take stock of what you have, you realize that there are a number of things in your life that can benefit others, some are material things, but the most important things are the gifts from your HEART.
Actually, the Bible relates to all giving coming from the heart, as otherwise, it doesn’t count. It actually says, “It profiteth nothing.”
I believe that I started off a.lot stingier than my wife, Linda, who’s always lived by the Bible verse: “give to anyone who asks of you” (Rev 13:17).
But her ATTITUDE of heart has made such an impression on me that in the past few years, we were able to give away the house that we were living in in Baja, Mexico.
Some friends of ours had returned from the mission field of China and were in need of a place to stay. And at the time that we decided to give them our home, God immediately opened up another house for us to live in, (virtually next door) so that we could continue to help them get adjusted in their new home, provide food and even manual help to take care of their children while the mother was pregnant with her 8th child.
In fact, Linda, my wife, embarked in a 6-week of full time caring for all of their kids. And it was only two weeks later that we heard of a huge hurricane that hit parts of Georgia and we, the men of our homes, all took off on an “across the USA expedition” to go and help those troubled families in the devastated area.
As I look back on all that we gave away or shared with others, I can testify that we have not lacked anything. To the contrary, it seems like we keep receiving more and more as if we had become a conduit that God uses to bless others.
Actually, in the past two years, we gave a motorhome to a young family who were homeless. We also gave a car to a young girl who was desperate for transportation (since she had just found a job which was curbing her life upward), after a long time of depressive times. And then, when our daughter and her husband were in need of a home, we first had them move in with us and shortly thereafter we proceeded to turn over the whole house to them, along with a small business that we had started to help pay the expenses.
Jesus essentially said that you are not the owner of the money or the blessings that come to you, you are the MANAGER (steward) of those blessings. Once you realize this, it changes everything!
For one, all that we have here will be left behind; that is why you never see a U-Haul trailer behind a hearse. So the concept of “giving” might as well start earlier than later because we will leave it all behind one day, so why not leave it in LOVE all along the way!?
Did you know that Jesus has never made a comment about people’s church services or attendance except when watching people giving. He did not talk about their awesome singing, their beautiful attire, or how regularly they came to the synagogue. But he compared the poor widow’s offering to the wealthy religious people’s offering and said: “For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living” (Mk 12:44)
Jesus went as far as saying in Matthew 25:40: “Whatever you do for one of the least of these my brethren and sisters of Mine, you did it for me.” And when He said, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” (Luke 16:10). He was actually talking about money, saying, if you can trust God in the area of your finances and your possessions, that it is the least that you can do in the area of FAITH.
In other words, if you can trust God entirely as your source of income and supply, that is the one first and most important step that He requires on your walk of faith.
I did not realize it until later in life that the Bible actually talks about money more than about anything else and it teaches you how to handle money, how to be a steward and how to sow it so that it grows.
It “fritzes” your carnal mind because the world teaches you to accumulate and to save and to hold onto your money, whereas the Lord teaches you virtually the opposite. It is not that you have to squander what He gives you, on the contrary, He expects you to be a wise giver and a faithful steward and investor. But the investments that He blesses the most are the investments in His Kingdom.
There is yet one more area that I have found recently that God blesses immensely and that is when you ask Him to bless the work of your hands. It is true that if you work at McDonalds or work as a garbage collector, God can promote you and bless you in so many different ways if you are faithful to look to Him as your Source of income. But on the other hand, if you are able to create something with your hands then He can lead you to prosperity through the work of your hands.
In days gone by, there were no big corporations that monopolized everything. Everyone had to develop his gift and make a living of his own abilities. Now, the big corporations have taken over all of those personal initiatives and people hardly have an opportunity to create or to exercise their own gifts. But I have found that when you can be your own boss and be the one who not only creates, but also manages the work or the workforce, in order to create the income, God can greatly multiply the blessings of your income. “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day” (Deut 8;18).
I have a skill that allows me to travel and to always find work wherever I land. There is always a need for an entertainer. And in fact, because I am the sole responsible for my income, I have had to create opportunities for myself, and I had to desperately look to God to lead me and I can honestly say that He has “cast my lines in beautiful places” and has led me to amazing opportunities to raise funding both for my family and for whoever else we were helping.
And then, there is the giving of your time. Many need a listening ear, or someone to shoulder their boulder. We sometimes are so caught up in our world of calculating income by the hours that we work, that we forget that in giving hours away, there again, God can multiply our income and bless us in so many ways.
I once was able to meet one of the world’s greatest saints, dear Mother Teresa. And her life was all about caring, giving, loving and preferring the other. In fact, she built her entire ministry on one Bible verse: “As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me“ (Mt. 25:40). She was probably the most effaced person I have ever met. My whole encounter with her is too long a story to develop here (See “Meeting Mother Teresa”), but she left me with a lesson that I could never forget. I have heard many great preachers, and even worked with devoted missionaries all over the world, but she understood something about the human soul like no other did, and could see the beauty that God saw in each one, even the most unlovely of humanity!
She put the love of God in 3-D for people through a living sample. She was FAITH in ACTION.
Sometimes we think, “If I give to God, where is it going to go?” The fact is that God doesn’t actually need money, but it is giving to others in need, UNSELFISHLY, whether time, possessions, money or love, that MULTIPLIES your time, your money, your blessings and your love. It is a multiplication game as God explained in the parable of the sower.
There is a seed in your giving that once planted will multiply sometimes a hundred times over. For as long as the giving is done from the heart and not out of obligation, God can take it from there and multiply it in blessings. “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will He pay him again” (Pr 19:17).
To me it is just so amazing how all of these promises of God actually work! They are rock solid! Like cement! But cement is only powder until you mix it with water; your FAITH (faith without works is DEAD). And in the case of giving, the water of your love. GOD IS A GIVER. Love gives… How cool is that! No wonder, “God loves a cheerful giver” (2Cor 9:7) .
