The Good Truth in Giving

We have just finished the season of great giving or great
exchanging, probably much of each. Some of us think only of getting, some of
giving, some of giving in order to get, and some of giving because we get. Sometimes
it is difficult to sort out our own motives.

There is a good truth in giving-getting that is not selfish.
The motives were/are absolutely pure. Notice a common truth in the following scriptures:
the greatest motive for giving is love, and the greatest expressed love was the
death of Christ.

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one
and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not
that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John
3:16).

“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

“Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and
their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they
gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on
their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this
service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave
themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will…. For
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so
that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:2-5, 9).

The Macedonians gave out of their poverty. The Lord Jesus
gave all of His wealth and entered poverty so that we might be wealthy.

“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” (Luke 6:38).

“One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another
withholds unduly, but comes to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24).

There is a response to loving. That response is also loving.
There is a response to giving. The giving that comes back to you may not come
from the person to whom you gave. If you are expecting it to come from him,
then your motive for giving might not be right. The return might not ever
happen in this life.

“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the
heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and
ever” (Daniel 12:3).

Pray that we might
be, and remain, unreluctant givers.