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

“ Seven Kinds of Giving”

T HERE ARE MANY KINDS OF GIVING. The first three kinds were initially explained in the Volume 7, No. 42 issue of Growth Digest of December 14, 2005.

1. G ODLY GIVING – Godly giving is the kind of giving of God who gives generously without measure, without condition, and out of his love for us.

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).

G odly giving is giving freely without expecting anything in return. There 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.

Godly 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).

G od is not interested in the money given. He does not look at the amount; He looks instead at the heart of the giver.

3. G IVING CHEERFULLY – This is giving with joy in one's heart.

? “ 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 cheerful giving, we receive blessings and protection from God.

I n Galatians 6:6-10, St. Paul wrote about “sharing good things” and about “reaping only what he sows.” “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up.” (verse 9).

G od opens the door for us to do good to all but especially to those who belong to the family of the faith. (Galatians 6:10). When we give our love and joy in helping others, let us do it cheerfully and with God's divine love in our heart.

4. G IVING OURSELVES – The best example of giving oneself is that of Jesus Christ who gave himself to us. (John 3:16).

A nother example is that of the Macedonians who gave themselves to the Lord and were very generous in giving: “…and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us through the will of God.” (2 Corinthians 8:5).

S t. Paul cited the churches of Macedonia : “for in a severe test of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their profound poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For according to their means, I can testify, and beyond their means, spontaneously, they begged us insistently for the favor of taking part in the service to the holy ones.” (2 Corinthians 8:2-4).

L et us give ourselves to the Lord and to us. Like the Macedonians, let our self-giving allow our wealth of generosity to overflow and to enable us to take part in the service to the Community.

5. G IVING WITH THANKFULNESS – “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).

G od is our provider. [“Pro” means ahead of time; “vider” means to see.] God sees ahead of our needs.

G od supplies us whatever we need. (Philippians 4:19). He also provides us with the grace to serve him, and the grace to give to others. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35 ). Let us give with thankfulness in our heart. Let us be grateful both for what we give and for what we receive. Let us never be ungrateful to the Lord!

6. G IVING LAVISHLY – We can give to the Lord lavishly.

K ing David replied to Araunah, “No, I must pay you for it, for I cannot offer to the Lord my God holocausts that cost nothing.” (2 Samuel 24:24).

“W hen he [Jesus] was in Bethany reclining at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman [Mary] came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head.” (Mark 14:3). The woman had given lavishly to the Lord.

K ing David and the woman gave God lavishly. How about us? Can we give something to the Lord lavishly?

W e can give lavishly to the Lord if, inspite of our tight personal or business schedule, we always give our time to the Lord. We can give lavishly to God if we spend our time and efforts bringing souls to our Community's monthly Spirit Empowerment Seminars (instead of taking our SES for granted). We can also give lavishly to the Lord if we spend our time and resources taking care of souls as Group Shepherds in our Community.

H ow can the Lord send us more SES participants if we do not give our time to take care of them? The Lord gave up his life for our salvation. We ought to be ashamed if we are ungrateful and if we do not carry on our mission and commitment to save souls. Let us be faithful to our pledge to bring “fruits” to our SES (Lord's Flock Core Value No. 2) and to serve and do everything with excellence (1 Corinthians 10:31 ).

L et us imitate King David when serving God. Let us give lavishly our service to the Lord.

7. G IVING TO THE POOR – We can give to the poor – those who lack material things. When we are blessed with money, wealth, and other possessions, let us share them with our needy brothers and sisters.

W e can also give to the poor in spirit – those who lack in the knowledge of God. Let us not hesitate to share the word of God to others. Let us be generous in evangelizing and spreading the Gospel. Let us give lavishly to the poor in spirit.