THE ORIGINAL PRINCIPLE OF GIVING

: "Be constantly giving, and it shall be given you, a generous measure that has been pressed down hard and which has been shaken thoroughly and which is running over shall they give into the pouch of your outer garment, for with the measure by which you are accustomed to measure, it shall be measured to you again" (Luke 6:38, The New Testament: An expanded translation). Many have given offerings, expecting to receive returns but nothing came forth. Many have been sermonized to sow seeds so that God can give them big harvest for the seed sown, but the promised harvest never came. Such become shaken in their faith in the integrity of the Scriptures and in the capacity of God to honor His word. Today's Bible verse for our meditation sheds some important lights on the issue at hand. First, it is obvious that God is talking about attitude here and not just a one-time out-of-order giving that you did. It seems that God is more interested in blessing the attitude than the very action of giving. What is your attitude when it comes to giving? Many give without necessarily being givers but God is looking for habitual givers to bless in proportion to the measure they are accustomed to giving. When we say someone is accustomed to something, it means that thing has become natural and habitual to that person. He would not require any motivation or prodding to do that thing. He does it naturally, almost without thinking. Are you accustomed to giving? For the promise of a reward is to those who have become accustomed to giving. But please note that you only get accustomed to what you practice constantly. Then we must talk about consistency in giving. The translation we are using today begins the verse by saying, "Be constantly giving...". The promise of a blessing is hinged on the constancy of the giving. But many lack the strength and courage to continue giving. Once they have done it a few times and all that the preacher told them did not happen, they conclude that the preacher was simply out to swindle. The next time an opportunity to give comes, they are well prepared to stedfastly resist any attempt to take away their money. But little did they realize that all that is so simply because they are not givers. What is the way out? It is to understand that whereas God promises to bless us when we give, that is not the primary truth God wants us to grab. The primary truth is that God created us to be givers, and He is saying "Be who I have made you to be, be the giver I created you to be and I will bless you for staying true to your creation identity". That is why the issue of giving goes beyond trading your one penny for God's hundred pennies. That is why in return for your offering, God could bless you with good health, or a wonderful spouse or a beautiful child or victory in a particular area of life. He could even roll everything together and hand them all to you in a single package. O yes! That is why He is called Jehova!