What God Has To Say About Money Part 2: Generosity and Giving

February 26th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under • by admin

This week we’re taking a look at what the Bible has to say about money. Yesterday we took a look at what references there are to debt in the Bible, and today we’re going to look at what God thinks about being generous and being a giver.

The bible is very clear on this subject. There are verses all over the bible which speak positively of giving. God wants us to be generous and to help others. Let’s take a look at some verses. Even in the days before Christianity, the Law required that people be givers. Leviticus 19:9-10 states, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God.” This was essentially a safety net for people. This way the extremely poor could go out and reap what God commanded his people not to.

God also promises to us that when we are givers, he will reward us. Luke 6:38 states, “For if you give, you will get! Your gift will return to you in full and overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use to give — large or small — will be used to measure what is given back to you.” There’s no way to prove this mathematically showing that people who give more succeed more in life, and really, it’s a matter of faith. I’ve noticed that since I started giving in my life that I’ve been doing a lot more well off, but I can’t speak for everyone else.

It’s really not the amount of money that you give, it’s the sacrifice that you make. Luke 21:1-4 states, “And [Jesus] looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a certain poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.”

Finally, when you are generous to others, the bible gives us a peculiar instruction. Opening to Matthew 6, we are told “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.” In other words be generous, but don’t be loud and annoying about it. We shouldn’t be giving to make ourselves look good, we should be giving to help others, and for no other reason.
There you have it. Be generous and sacrifice for others, but do it for the sake of others, and not for making yourself look good. Do so and you will be rewarded greatly, the bible couldn’t be more clear on this subject. Look forward to tomorrow’s edition of “What God Has To Say About Money” when we look at what God has to say about investing.

Read What God Has To Say About Money Part 3: Investing