The Blessedness of Giving
By L. F. STARR
“It is more blessed to give than to receive,” because it delivers us from the bonds of selfishness, and from the burden of dependence. One of the greatest hindrances to the spread of the gospel at home is the failure to give enough to carry it abroad. In proportion as we give do we become interested in world-wide evangelization. If we give liberally, our hearts become warmed and thrilled, and we feel the greater need of the entire consecration of ourselves to God, and thus we become more efficient workers at home. “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.” The rule is that those churches which give the most to spread the gospel of the kingdom abroad are the churches which have the greatest vitality, and are the most potent in building up the Master’s kingdom at home. What is true of the church is also true of each individual in the church. The man who gives the most willingly and cheerfully, in the spirit of the Master, is the man who receives the greatest supply of grace, who enjoys the most of his presence, who has the greatest peace and happiness here, and who has the prospect of eternal bliss at God’s right hand above. While it is true that the man who gives with pure motives receives, and many, with accumulated interest, in this life; yet we should not give with that motive in view. That would be giving from a selfish motive. If we give expecting to receive as much or more in return, we shall not be benefited by giving. But we are benefited when we lose ourselves in the work of the Lord, and give because of the great love we have for him, and because of the great desire we have to further his kingdom in the world, and to hasten the time when all nations and tongues and peoples will acknowledge the supremacy of our King. The standard which Christianity raises is this: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” He gave freely. He gave his Son for a lost world. He gives rain and sunshine, both on the just and on the unjust. It has been truly said, “No man has a purely benevolent emotion until he has done a deed or given a dollar without any desire for, or expectation of, any recompense but the approval of God.” Any work which makes no appeal to selfishness, and offers no return save the expansion and enrichment of our spiritual natures, is the most closely related to our Christian growth. The greatest object of true giving is to develop this unselfishness, not because God or his poor need our help, but because we need the discipline of giving. Every individual Christian should give for the extension of the gospel of the kingdom. That is a debt that every man owes. We should feel that it is a debt of gratitude that every man owes to the bountiful Giver of all things. Then again, all the members of the church should pay their tithe and make liberal offerings. The tenth of our earnings belongs to God, and the increase of our flocks and fields of grain should be faithfully tithed. Nine tenths with the blessing of God upon it, will go further than ten tenths without his blessing. The church of God stands in need of a great revival to-day, but along with it should be the revival of the pocketbook. If the churches and individuals would come forward, cheerfully and willingly giving as the Lord has prospered them, there would sweep such a wave of blessing over the land as has not been witnessed yet. We should be in the midst of a greater Pentecost than that which swept over Jerusalem in the apostles’ days. Do you doubt it, reader? Listen to the word of God: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, 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.” When this is done, then it will be time to shout, Hallelujah! But it comes with poor grace when the individual is not paying his tithe or making any offerings to missions, and then says that he is wholly the Lord’s, and his soul is filled with divine love. In our social life there are many opportunities of ministering to the needy and lost ones, and the Master himself says that in doing such service we are also ministering to him. What a privilege! The more we help others, the more we are helped ourselves. The more we impart light and hope and cheer to the hearts of our fellow men, the more shall we be cheered on our journey, and the more will our pathway be illuminated by the presence of Christ, the true light. The follower of Christ is never so happy as when head and heart and hand are actively engaged in helping others, and leading the perishing to the Redeemer of men. Let us, then, imitate the Master in spending and being spent, in giving our time, our energy, our means, ourselves, to him and for him, and thus learn by experience that it is more blessed to give than to receive.