Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this
account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all
that you undertake. -
This is one of the passages that Prosperity Gospel preachers love to preach. If you tithe and give additional gifts, you will be financially successful. The more you give, the more you will get.
I really hate that interpretation. I don’t believe it is a correct interpretation. If it was true, we would be reading headlines saying, “Pastor Hazbucks of Give More Money Ministries reports that 90% of his congregation has been so blessed by God for their generous giving that they have moved from the ghetto to McMansion Row.” Believe me, if this was happening, Pastor Hazbucks would be advertising the heck out of it, so even more people would start sending him money.
If I reach in my pocket out of a sense of obligation, or because someone has laid a guilt trip on me, there will be no blessings. There will instead be feelings of resentment and even anger that I was somehow made to do something I did not wish to do. If I give out of the desire for a promised reward, any earthly reward I receive is all I will get.
When I am happy to donate to a cause I admire, like my congregation or public radio, it is something I do out of gratitude that I have been blessed with more than I need. “My gratitude speaks when I care and when I share.” When I give of my abundance, I am blessed, not with financial gain or the admiration of others, but with the joyful knowledge that I have been able in some small way to make someone else’s life better. It doesn’t matter whether my gift is 50 cents or 50 dollars, as long as it is freely and joyfully given.
Giving God, whose bounty knows no limits, I thank you for giving me enough. Enough for me, and enough to share. May my giving always be done with gratitude and a joyful heart. Amen.
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