Giving To Get

International Outreach is a Registered Charity. Charity no. 1138123

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Giving To Get

John Hibbert

I preached at the opening of a new church in the States years ago. The message was about giving. "Prove me now, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." A vagrant from the street came into church that night and was moved by the word. At the end of the sermon he came forward and stood searching every pocket in his ragged clothing. He pulled out odd coins from different pockets and placed them on an open bible at the front. When he'd done, there was less than a dollar in total, but he had given all that he had. He returned to his seat and I watched as the love and power of God overwhelmed him. He was a man with a tormented mind. Mental institutions had failed to help him. That night Jesus set him free in seconds, honouring His word. The man gave and the Lord responded with invaluable blessings. When I returned a couple of years the man was in church, happily married, with a lovely baby. How great is our God!

How sad it is that this amazing biblical truth has been reduced by slick money raisers, almost exclusively, to matters of finance. "Plant a seed (in my ministry) and receive a financial miracle!" "God has fifty miracles waiting for the first fifty people who will give a thousand dollars." Clever businessmen who have made fortunes from their entrepreneurial skills make ordinary Christians like me and you feel guilty if someone doesn't buy us a new car every year, or provide for us a luxury home, or endless wardrobes of clothes. Those who boast such success should not twist and misapply the scriptures to con God's people into giving their hard earned cash in the vain hope of a miracle (of course, everyone assumes that they are the fifty-first person to call).

Did not Jesus discourage His followers from building up treasures on earth, but rather in Heaven? Did He not warn would-be disciples that He expected "self denial" and "cross carrying" from those who would follow Him? Is not history marked with the lives of those who "gave up" fortunes in order to spread the Gospel? Is not this the pattern of lowliness that is exemplified in the life of the Lord Jesus Himself? How must the millions of Christians living in poverty in the third world feel when they hear the flashy preachers tell them that if they had faith they would prosper?

Of course the Lord rewards the givers in His kingdom, like He rewarded the street man in the USA, but very rarely in kind! He received a gift that no money on earth could buy!

Giving To Get