GIVE ACCORDING TO YOUR INCOME

REFERENCE: Deuteronomy 16:17 and Matthew 5:42

Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you. Dt. 16:17

Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Mt. 5:6

COMMENT: We all have something to give and that pleases God. God’s desire is that we all have something to give so that we can be blessed. He requires that we pay our tithes and give offerings and pledges and in return He blesses us. He also expects us to bless other people financially and materially. He owns everything including human beings and nothing is too hard for him.

 God does not always create new things from nothing, but sometimes makes them from old ones. When he wanted to create a wife for Adam, he produced her from Adam’s body. (See Genesis 2:21-22)

God touched the widow in Israel and commanded her to feed the man of God called Elijah. He made sure there was food in her house for a long time by multiplying the flour and oil until there was rain in the land. (See 1Kings 17:14)

When God was requested to solve the debt problem of a widow whose sons were to be sold as slaves to pay a debt their late father left behind, he increased the little oil in the house.  The oil was sold and the debt was paid in full. (See 2 Kings 4:1-7)

When the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to feed the five thousand in the wilderness, he multiplied two fish and five loaves of bread. They ate and were satisfied and twelve baskets of leftovers were collected. (See Mark 6:38-44)

Our release and giving is always followed by God’s release and giving. With God’s gift, we are sustained. That is the way God wants us to survive and prosper. The children of Israel failed to get to this point because of unbelief, stubbornness and deliberate worship of other gods. They went contrary to the Ten Commandments although they had been warned of curses if they disobeyed.

The economy of this world is buying and selling, but the economy of heaven is giving and receiving.

 To benefit from this principle of giving and receiving, there is a condition; one must be a born again Christian. They must, in faith, receive Jesus Christ as their personal saviour.

PRAYER: Holy Spirit! Teach us to understand and apply this principle of GIVING and RECEIVING. Amen!