Blessings for the Giver

Luke 6:38

³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Over the past several months I have been so encouraged to see God work in the lives of His people.  As God teaches us, directs us and bestows wisdom upon us our lives will increasingly look more and more Godly.  As we have studied the issue of Godly stewardship and the Christian principles concerning giving over the past few weeks in particular a very profound realization has come to my attention.  Our attitudes concerning money and how we use our money is directly related to nearly every aspect of our spiritual growth.  Jesus tells us in Luke 6 “Give and it will be given to you…”  This is a great truth, but the question still remains, “what will be given to you?”  The answer to this short question can be summed up in an even shorter response.  “Everything!”  A good measure of every good thing that we need as Christians will be given to those who give to Him with liberality!

Now when we think of something being given to us we often think only in terms of material possessions, but praise God that He has something far more valuable in mind than mere earthly possessions when He promises to give back to us!  God promises to give us everything we need in order to live for Him when we become truly sacrificial givers.  I think Billy Graham hit the nail on the head when he said this…

“If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.” – Billy Graham

When we hold onto our earthly possessions loosely and give them to God freely, God frees us from the bondage of those earthly possessions and gives us things that are far more important than what we gave up.  We are rewarded with a good measure of many things.  We are freed from the grip of greed.  We are freed from the pride and arrogance of personal earthly wealth.  God will grant us every spiritual blessing in order to grow us into the image of His Son, who, after all, gave up everything on our behalf.  When we give to God He truly gives the greater gifts back!  But God not only blesses us spiritually, He blesses us physically too.  He often protects our children, our homes and our property.  He faithfully supplies our daily needs of sustenance and He can even keep us in good health…all because we have given liberally to Him.  But if that weren’t enough, God promises even more than this.  God promises that the work of His kingdom will multiply and that the saints will rejoice in the generosity of the giver.  The people of God will also be encouraged by the gifts of God’s people and the work of the Gospel will go forth in power!  God takes a completely unholy, unrighteous thing (our money) and returns a gift back to us infinitely greater than what was given!

But why does God reward the giver so liberally?  Because God, after all, is a God who gives liberally Himself.  “For God so loved the world He gave…”  God sets the example and standard for giving brothers and sisters.  He gave more and continues to give more than we could ever begin to pay back.  God’s desire is to make us into the image of Christ, and Christ gave everything…He gave His life to redeem the lost sheep.  God’s love for His people is profoundly deep and unwavering and His good gifts are given in measure to those who give to Him!  Praise God for His provision, and praise God that He supplies all of our needs according to His purposes!  I continue to pray that as generous as the saints at LWBC are, that we will continue to grow in our generosity.  And God promises to return to us far more than we could ever purchase for ourselves!  Praise be to God!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John