Money: how you get it and give it

Many of the heroes in the Bible were wealthy individuals. “Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold” (Genesis 13:2 NKJV). King David “died in a good old age, full of days and riches and honor” (1 Chronicles 29:28 NKJV). Barnabas, a wealthy landowner, made possible the expansion of the early church when he sold a piece of real estate and gave the money to the apostles (see Acts 4:36-37). There is nothing wrong with wealth in and of itself. The things that matter are: (1) How you get it. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord” (James 5:1, 4 NKJV). The God who records and rewards also observes how you do business. (2) How you give it. David said, “All things come from You, and of Your own [hand] we have given You.” So when God speaks to you to give, try to remember these two things: (a) He is asking for a portion of what already belongs to Him. You don’t own it; you manage it for Him. (b) You always reap what you sow. “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7 NKJV). And in God’s economy, you reap more than you sow. If you plant a single grain of corn, you reap a cornstalk with hundreds of grains like itself. So give and God will give back to you.