Read:Luke 6:38 |
R. G. Le Tourneau, built up a business designing and making massive earth moving equipment. By the latter part of his life, he was giving 90% of his income away and living on 10%. Despite this, his net worth continued to climb. Someone asked, “How come you’re giving 90% of all your income away, but you keep getting richer?’ His answer is classic. He said, “I shovel it out and God shovels it back, but God has a bigger shovel.”
Mr. Le Tourneau shows us that the promise of Luke 6:38 is true even today. Believers who seek to follow God’s principles of giving are blessed faster than they can give.
Reason – To Obtain a Blessing
The Bible is full of paradoxes – “Love your enemies”, “Turn the other cheek” and “Give and it will be given to you”, among others.
These paradoxes bring us blessings when we muster our mustard-seed faith to put them into action. By trusting and believing, we can discover for ourselves that God’s promises are always fulfilled.
The paradox of “Give and it will be given to you” brings multiple blessings in our lives. In fact, our key scripture from Luke 6:38 notes that God will bless us back measure for measure. Due to our free-will gifts, these blessing include:
- Stretching our finances
- Sustaining the health and well-being of our family
- Strengthening of our faith
- Adding to our treasures stored in Heaven
- Finding favor among others and our employer
The Old Testament contains examples of Abraham, Job and Moses among others, who gave freely and honored God. God found favor in their lives and granted them many blessings.
They and Mr. Le Tourneau are living proof that you can give and it “will” be given to you!
Rationale
Receiving a blessing for following God’s word to give a free-will offering is like getting a bonus for doing what God has asked us to do.
Of course, the idea of receiving the bonus of a blessing is never the reason a righteous believer gives an offering. The offering should be made from a sincere desire to follow God’s will for our lives and to express our love to Him.
As God blesses us, an endless loop is created. We give, God blesses. God blesses, we give. [Genesis 12:2] By giving freely back to God, the temptation of greed and selfishness lose traction and importance in our lives. Instead, we seek to please God.
Conclusion
How do you react when you see a sale sign “Buy One and Get One Free”.
When I see such a sale, I am always intrigued to find out what I might get. I am also wondering, “What is the catch?”
In our spiritual lives, when it comes to giving a free-will offering, the “Buy One and Get One Free” transaction has some parallel and there is no “catch”. We are giving a free-will offering to God. In turn, God has promised that a blessing will be poured into our laps from his heavenly stores. No department store in the world could match that offer! If we really love a good deal, we can’t beat what God has to offer!
Proverbs 11:25 tells us, “He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” Take God at his word! Establish a lifestyle of generous giving and see if God doesn’t bless you for your obedience and faithfulness.
Series Outline
Overview
1 – To Honor and Glorify God – Prov. 3:9; Ps 50:23
2 – To Excel in the Grace of Giving – 2 Cor 8:7
3 –
4 –
5 –
6 –
7 –
8 –
9 –
10 – To Obtain a Blessing – Luke 6:38
Questions:
1. Discover –
A. Imagine this, I give you my wallet and say, “Take it and bless someone with it…” The feeling is awesome, right?
You have at your disposal that which does not belong to you and yet something you can use to bless others! How would you give away the money?
2. Develop –
A. Giving to get a blessing is not a Prosperity Gospel approach nor should it be the only reason that you give. If your free-will giving is only to get a blessing, seek God in prayer to get back on-track.
3. Demonstrate –
A. Does your giving to God demonstrate a life that has been blessed! If not, why not! If so, Praise God!
