The Best Way to Give

Giving someone something he or she needs is both sacrificial and worthless. Please allow me to elaborate. I commend you for your willingness to give something away - your time, your talents, your possessions, your money, your food, your bed, your clothes, etc. I admit that it’s very hard to give away any of my things to others, simply because it is mine. I earned it, I own it, and I attribute value to it. That’s why giving is sacrificial. But that’s not how we ought to give.

Can I propose an idea? What we have is worthless. Yes, it really is not valuable at all. Think of it like this – you live on a planet that orbits a star which we call the solar system.  Apparently, there are billions and billions of solar systems that make up the galaxy. Then there are billions and billions of galaxies in our universe. Here’s the shocker – God owns it all! He owns the galaxy, the earth, the ground we’re standing on. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof”(Psalm 24:1).  So, with that sobering perspective, what we have and what we think we own, don’t really amount to much. Giving away our material possession shouldn’t be difficult; in fact, it’s should be downright easy. The Christians of the church of Acts 2 were notorious for this. 

Today, we’ve been conditioned to assign value to material things, and that’s why it’s hard to give to others our possessions. Don’t get me wrong, we have to be good stewards of God’s treasure and not fall into poverty or act irresponsibly. Remember that dependency on earthly possessions is forewarned. “For the love of money is the root of all evil”(1 Tim. 6:10). Let’s face it, treasures can lose value, get stolen, and be destroyed. The best way to use our treasure is to invest it for heaven. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where the thieves do not break in and steal”(Matthew 6:20). The Bible tells us that we are workers in the harvest field for the Kingdom. Therefore we are to live for God’s purpose and follow God’s lead, and give to people, to the church, and wherever there is a need. I am praying that God will move you to be generous when giving (your time, your talents, whatever God puts in your heart) to the church and to others.