Gifts reaching heaven
Manage episode 378145448 series 3460251
Cornelius seems to have been wealthy. Cornelius was not a chairman of a non-profit organization, he spent his own money to help the needy. He decided to be generous with what he had. He saw needs and went after meeting them. I believe that his giving was motivated by his relationship with God.
As a believer today, is your giving motivated by your relationship with God?
One of the principles I have seen in the Bible is that when we use money the way God desires, generosity is involved. A principle does not change because of the circumstances.
*You may be listening to this and saying, I don’t have centurion money. That's fine. You can be generous without plenty money. It has to do with your heart not the size of your wallet.
*You may be saying, if I give from what I have then I will have less. Sounds reasonable, but what does the Bible say? The Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11 "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."
God will bless you and has blessed you so that you can be generous. Through your generosity, men and women's needs will be met, and will result in thanksgiving to God. The same God will continue to supply and increase your store so that you can continue to do the same over and over again.
*Then you may say, people are ungrateful and they won't say thanks. Well what happened with Cornelius should be good enough to help our hearts. It never said that the poor were grateful (they may have been or not), but what it did say was that his giving reached heaven. Cornelius pleased God with his giving whether people on earth said thanks or not. Our giving should meet needs, yes, but our relationship with God should prompt the giving. Ultimately, generosity for Christians should be about that.
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