Instructed to Give
Last week we understood that God, because of His Love nature, is a giver. And because we are created in His image (Genesis 1:27), we too are givers. And our giving, just like His, should flow out of our love nature. There is therefore an undeniable interdependence between love and giving. This leads to the question, if giving is to be done out of love, is it still love if we are instructed to give?
The Link between Love and Giving
The link between love and giving is God. Remember we learnt God is Love. Therefore, to accept God is to accept Love. We also learnt that we reciprocate our love to God by obeying Him. Obedience, not out of obligation, but out of understanding of His character that wants the best for us:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
Because He knows it all, He has set in place principles in His Word, which if we obey, will lead to us living a blessed life.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
James 1:23-25
Giving out of love is one of the principles He has laid out in His Word.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:3
Mirrors Instructing us to Give
If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
Deuteronomy 15:7-8
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Matthew 5:42
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
Acts 20:35
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
1 Timothy 6:18
We can see from the above mirrors that giving is a principle that survived the old testament and has continued into the present new testament.
Your Turn
Giving is a principle that has been miscontrued and been used to manipulate people. As a result, a lot of people quickly shut their hearts to this principle which if we are honest, has received A LOT of bad PR!
Perhaps it is time for us to silence all the voices from our past (or present) that have hardened our hearts towards this principle, and go straight to the Author of giving and see what He has to say about it.
And this is what He says on the matter: “Give!”
Will you be obedient to His instruction, to your own benefit?
Next week we shall see the guidelines God has set concerning how we should give.
Have a blessed week ☺