8. God Gave It To Me For Me

By Thomas M. Parsons

What Christian Religion Teaches
Yes, it is true. God loves a cheerful giver. But He also expects me to use what I have wisely to provide for myself and my family.

In our culture, it is expected that a family will have a home, and it is infinitely better to own a home of your own than to throw money away on rent.

A dependable, and, let’s face it, stylish car is a necessity today. In fact, most families need two such cars in order to get everyone to work and school and to the wide variety of other places they have to go.

Clothing is a necessary part of our lives, but it is important to dress appropriately for work and school. People look down on us if we wear the same clothes all the time, even if we keep them clean. Our kids need to be properly dressed for school so that other kids don’t make fun of them. In addition, there are special clothes needed for gym class, for sports, for music programs.

Our homes need to be furnished appropriately so that guests do not think we are not able to afford the finer things in life. If our homes are filled with mis-matched furniture, even though we keep our home clean, guests will assume we are lacking in fundamental abilities. This could hold us back from acceptance in the community and impede our attempts to share the gospel with them.

There are so many things we have to spend money on these days that we need to thank God that He gives us what we need to keep up appearances.

God gave it to me, for me.

What The Bible Actually Says
Sowing and reaping are inextricably linked together. The more one sows, the more one reaps.

God understands our need to spend money on other things in life besides His work. He is not unmindful of our need for food, clothing, shelter, education, health care and all the other expenses of modern life, including high taxes and expenses we are required to pay because of various laws enacted by the various governmental units under which we live.

One of the best things Christians can and should do is organize their income and expenses into a budget. This is suggested in this text. Paul says that “each one . . . should [decide] in your heart” what to give. In order to be able to make a decision about what to give to the Lord’s work, a family needs to know what their income is and what expenses they have that must be paid in order to live. Once this is determined, then that amount should be given regularly.

But the believer should not “pay” God the way he or she pays the electric company or the grocery bill. “God loves a cheerful giver,” so our giving to God ought to reflect our love for Him and our gratefulness to Him for all that He has given us.

Our ability to give is based on the way in which God has decided to give wealth to us. He is able to bless each of us abundantly. He is able and willing to give us what we need. Having provided us with what we need, He expects us to “abound in every good work.”

The 119th Psalm relates physical giving to spiritual profit. Those who have “scattered their gifts to the poor” experience the endurance of their righteousness forever. We sometimes forget that money is not the only way God expects us to give cheerfully. We also can give of our time, of our labor, of our food, our clothing and in other ways. Volunteering is a way of giving as well.

God has blessed each person with twenty-four hours of time each and every day. Some of that time can be “donated” to benefit others without compensation. God supplies the time; we use it for His glory and for the benefit of others.

There is much taught in the name of Christ today that suggests that if I give, God will bless me abundantly. This is true; Paul says so in this text. However, this text does not support the prosperity gospel that is often proclaimed today,

Sep 6 - Problems Are For Losers 2 Cor 1:1-2:4
Sep 13 - The Old Ways Are Better 2 Cor 2:5-3:18
Sep 20 - Pie-In-The-Sky Religion Won’t Cut It 2 Cor 4:1-5:10
Sep 27 - I Have To Do It Myself 2 Cor 5:11-6:2
Oct 4 - God Doesn’t Want Me To Suffer 2 Cor 6:3-7:1
Oct 11 - Don’t Judge Me 2 Cor 7:2-16
Oct 18 - I Don’t Have Enough To Give It Away 2 Cor 8:1-9:5
Oct 25 - God Gave It To Me For Me 2 Cor 9:6-15
Nov 1 - I Take Pride in Myself 2 Cor 10:1-18
Nov 8 - You’re Okay, I’m Okay 2 Cor 11:1-15
Nov 15 - My Heritage Is Important 2 Cor 11:16-12:10
Nov 22 - Don’t Make a Fool of Yourself 2 Cor 12:11-21
Nov 29 - Don’t Tell Me What Not to Do 2 Cor 13:1-14
Classes taught by Tom Parsons at Maranatha Baptist church in Columbus, Ohio Sunday mornings at 9:30 am.

especially by television evangelists. It is not necessarily true that if I give $1,000 to a preacher’s ministry, God is going to give me $10,000 back. The Bible principle of working and receiving paychecks for that work is the basic plan God has for providing for our needs.

But He who supplies what we need can also give us more than we need. He can increase the store of seed and enlarge the harvest of righteousness. God does respond to our giving, but He does not necessarily respond with physical wealth. He desires to enlarge the harvest of our righteousness. It is not that He does not also “increase the store of seed.” As we use His provision to us wisely and seek to use part of it to provide for the needs of others and for His work, God often chooses to increase His provision to us as our investing in His work increases our righteousness before Him and before others.

God’s desire for the prosperity of His people is not a matter of dollars and cents or columns of figures. It is not that these lack importance; they are a necessary part of our living on this earth. But His interest in our prosperity goes much further than physical wealth. His desire is that His people “be made rich in every way.” There is a reason why He wants to prosper His people in both physical and spiritual wealth. He wants His people to “be generous on every occasion.” It is His desire that we answer the needs of others in any way open to us. Sometimes that will involve money. Sometimes it will involve food. Sometimes it will involve time. Sometimes it will involve listening. Sometimes it will involve a commitment to prayer. Sometimes it will involve simple acts of kindness.

God’s purpose, of course, is to generate thanksgiving for Himself. This is not selfish pride on His part, of course. It is a recognition of the fact that God is only one worthy of thanksgiving. Every good thing comes from Him. It is good for people to give thanksgiving to God, for it helps them to realize who He is and what He does for us. Our very lives hang by a delicate thread. But it is God who holds the other end of that thread.

“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” When God’s people are generous with time, money and other necessities, the people who are the recipients of their generosity will praise God for the obedience to Him shown by those who gave.

Christian giving is truly “the gift that keeps on giving.” I give; someone else benefits and praises God. That person prays for me, and I am led to give again, establishing the cycle all over again.

The underlying motivation for all Christian giving is, of course, “God’s unspeakable gift.” My giving can never match His, but my giving is to be motivated by His giving.

True prosperity, in both physical and even more in spiritual wealth is the result of a believer cheerfully, regularly, compassionately and generously giving money, time, material goods and spiritual assistance to help meet the needs of others and to generate praise and thanksgiving to God.

Next: I TAKE PRIDE IN MYSELF