2 Corinthians 9:10-11 (NLT) For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.

Many people wonder why Christians emphasize giving so much. We emphasize giving because God emphasizes it. There are so many scriptures about giving and they contain the secret to God’s blessings on our lives. It’s a rule written for all time that generous people attract the blessings of God. The people that He chooses to bless are the people that He knows will pay those blessings forward. God’s blessing plan is to bless those that have giving and generous hearts so that many others that are in need will be taken care of. In this way, a few things happen. First, the giver is blessed because it is truly more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). What that means is that when you are in a position to help someone who is in need, the experience of helping someone with the resources that God has blessed you with is a glorious one. It’s hard to put into words what you feel when you are able to help someone who had their backs against the wall regarding some financial dilemma. To see their heartfelt relief and joy and best of all, their thankfulness to God, is an amazing soul-experience.

Another amazing aspect of giving generously to help others is that you have the opportunity to be God’s representative in facilitating what someone needed. In other words, that God would use you to be a channel of blessing to others is an honor and a privilege that brings much joy and soul satisfaction. It is also a good defense against your flesh in that giving short-circuits the greed and selfishness of your sinful nature. It prevents you from becoming a lover of money and resources instead of a lover of God. Remember that the Word of God says that you can’t love both God and money (Matthew 6:24), so being a channel where money (and resources) can pass through instead of being horded and stored up for yourself is a safeguard against piercing yourself with many griefs (see 1 Timothy 6:10).

God is looking for people to bless that are like a river instead of a pond. In a pond, water comes in from the rain, but it never goes anywhere. That’s why many ponds are dirty, have algae and pond scum and usually don’t smell too good. Rivers are always flowing and the moving waters keeps everything fresh and clean. That’s why Jesus likened His Holy Spirit in us to rivers of Living Water. Be a river of God’s blessings to others. You will be an instrument in God’s hands for good, you will draw much thanksgiving to God from those that He blesses through you, and you will be safeguarded against being lured and deceived by the love of money, which is the root of all kinds of evil.

Pastor Joey Vazquez