Abundant Giving Equals Abundant Living

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them . . . But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.

Matthew 6:1–3

Again and again in the Gospels, Christ mentioned money. Though His Gospel was spiritual, He had much to say about the material, because there is always a relationship between the two, paradoxical though it may seem.

He said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). And yet He strongly hinted that God was entitled to some of Caesar’s money, and that Caesar stood in need of the mercy and grace of God.

So grace and gold are inseparably bound up together; and as long as God’s Kingdom is upon earth, the need of earthly mammon is indicated and is closely tied to our spiritual lives.

Our Lord’s command was, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38). Yet it was more than a command. It was an invitation to glorious and abundant living. If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area of his life.

The chief motive of the selfish, unregenerate person is “get.” The chief motive of the dedicated Christian should be “give.” The Prodigal Son set off a series of negative events marked for failure when he said to his father, “Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me” (Luke 15:12). But Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given.” It is a promise, and we know that Jesus never breaks His promises.

Our Father and our God, I know that Your grace and my gold go together. Help me to be open handed and generous to others, as You have always been to me. Remind me often that everything I have really belongs to You. And help me to give it away, Lord, as You would do Yourself. Through Jesus, who gave His all for me. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).