Speaker: Sis. Techie Rodriguez ,Elder, The Lord's Flcok Catholic Charismatic Community

“ God's Plan of Giving - Part 2 ”

I ntroduction: God will give us everything else along with Jesus. He has given us his word. He is giving us his wealth; He has given us the power to acquire wealth. Let us observe the different principles of gaining wealth. [Please read Part 1, Growth Digest Volume 7, No. 41, December 7, 2005 .]

P art of God's plan of giving is to richly provide us with all things for our enjoyment . (1 Timothy 6:18). Wealth or money can, in itself, be a great blessing from God. However, we are warned about love of money. “ For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains. ” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Consequences of Love of Money

L et us beware of love of money. Let us be careful of desiring to accumulate too much wealth. Love of money has many dire consequences:

1. We forget God. When we love money, we spend more time working for more money. We have no more time for God and we forget him.

2. We stop loving God. When we love money, we stop loving God. We cannot serve two masters – God and money. (Matthew 6:24). When we love money, we cease loving God.

3. We are deceived by the enemy. The devil deceives us with the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. (Mark 4:19 ).

4. We compromise and we get separated from God. We succumb to temptations, compromise our beliefs, and commit evil acts. We get separated from God.

5. We stand on an unstable foundation such as money. We trust something that can pass away quickly.

? “Toil not to gain wealth, cease to be concerned about it; while your glance flits to it, it is gone!” (Proverbs 23:4-5).

? “Tell the rich in the present age not to be proud and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth but rather on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17)

L et us not trust in money and other temporary things of this world. Let us put our faith and hope in God, the source of everything.

6. We become ungrateful. People who are rich have the temptation to believe in their own ability. They commend themselves and forget to thank God, the source of their riches. In places where material things abound, people often forget to be grateful to the source of the blessings. “[When you] have increased your herds and flocks, your silver and gold, and all your property, you have become haughty of heart and unmindful of the Lord…” (Deuteronomy 8:13-14).

7. We become proud. We sin and become God's enemy.

? “The rich man thinks himself wise.” (Proverbs 28:11).

? “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15).

W hen we love temporary things in this world, such as money, our pride causes us to sin and we become God's enemy. Instead of loving the world and its enticement that are passing away, we should do the will of God to remain forever. (1 John 2:17).

8. We rob God. When we love money, we do not pay our tithes as required in Malachi 3:10. We are actually robbing God “In tithes and in offerings.” (Malachi 3:8).

G iving is not easy. We sometimes promise to give but start to struggle when the amount of our tithes become big. Let us not hesitate to pay what is due to God.

E verything comes from God. Our time and talent, like our treasure, all come from the Lord. Let us willingly give them to God and offer even our life by serving him faithfully. Our life on earth is extremely short (compared with eternity). Let us therefore spend our life by serving God, not by robbing him.

9. We rob others. When we do not return a tenth part of our income to God as our tithes (Malachi 3:10 ), we fail to provide spiritual food in his storehouse. We prevent evangelization and deprive others the opportunity of hearing the word of God and knowing Jesus personally.

Giving – More Blessed than Receiving

W hen there is giving, we are either the giver or the taker (receiver). Human beings usually prefer to take than to give. Their tendency is to receive rather than to give.

S piritually, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Jesus himself said this beatitude in addition to the eight beatitudes during his Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5:3-11).

J esus Christ is God's indescribable gift to us. (2 Corinthians 9:15). Jesus is God's gift for all ages. He is our Savior and Redeemer.

Kinds of Giving

T here are three kinds of giving:

1. G odly Giving – Godly giving is giving freely without expecting anything in return.

H ow does God give to us?

? “God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8). God can give us all things and prosper us more than what we need.

? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16). God gave us his unselfish love without any condition. God gave his Son to die for all of us. St. Paul wrote about God's agape love: “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

G odly giving is giving just as God gives – “agape” – without any condition. God gives to everyone; “He makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45).

T here is nothing wrong when we expect something in return (as in Luke 6:38 ). But godly giving is giving without expecting anything in return; it is giving freely without any condition. It is giving out of love. It is not godly giving even if we give away everything we own but do not have love. (1 Corinthians 13:3).

G odly giving is motivated by love that has no boundaries. God gave us his love by coming to the world to seek and save the lost. We should likewise give our love by seeking and saving our lost brothers and sisters. God does not want anyone to be lost; we have to do our share of saving souls by godly giving of our time, talent, and treasures. In so doing, we prove that we truly love God and our neighbor.

G odly giving is giving even though it is painful. With it, we overcome our covetousness, our self, and our flesh. Giving forgiveness is an example of godly giving. We forgive others without expecting anything in return.

G odly giving on earth is like storing up treasures in heaven. (Matthew 5:20).

2. G iving Sacrificially – Giving sacrificially is giving something with sacrifice on the part of the giver. Persons who share their money and possessions even when they still are in need of their money are giving sacrificially.

T he best example of giving sacrificially is the contribution of the poor widow of two small coins. From her poverty, she has offered sacrificially her whole livelihood. (Luke 21:1-4).

3. G iving Cheerfully

? “God loves a cheerful giver .” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

? “With each contribution show a cheerful countenance, and pay your tithes in a spirit of joy.” (Sirach 35:8).

S t. Paul is exhorting us to give to God as a form of worship to him who deserves nothing but the best. With our cheerfully giving, we receive blessings and protection from God.