You can preach and give a whole lot of sermons, but that doesn’t mean anyone’s going to be listening. Especially if your “pearls” (Matt 7:12) are offensive or confusing. Maybe you have all the right stuff; maybe you don’t. Maybe you just tell them what they want to hear; maybe you give them the good stuff. Where do they find out? The scriptures! So the question is: why would someone want to listen to anything from a man who gave them everything but the Word of God?
Scripture is alive and living. It comes to life when we talk about it and think about it together, and when it challenges our deepest beliefs. If you want to see your life transformed, if you want to deepen a relationship with God, give Scripture a try!Jesus is our Lord and Savior because He is the only way to eternal life. Without Him, we are lost and headed for an eternity separated from God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16#
GIVING SCRIPTURES
There have been several times in my life when God has emphasized the power of giving.
Several years ago I was invited to lead a mission trip to a war torn village in North African. I was asked to bring a small team to build a rudimentary clinic for doctors serving villagers that had been effected by the war.
At the time I did not have the money to go, and was battling fear. It was a dangerous area, but the need was great, and a close friend had made the request. I prayed, throwing out a fleece to God, “If you provide the funding Lord, I will go.” The next day I received an “unsolicited” check in the mail from a friend for $2,000, enough to cover the full cost of my trip.
When our team arrived in country we were placed under a travel restriction. We were confined to the capital for the length of our stay. We had the opportunity to encourage some of the Christian leaders in the area, but for the most part our trip seemed like a waste of time and money.
I know now that nothing is truly wasted in God’s economy. An engineer who accompanied me on that trip caught a vision for mission work while we were there. He returned with his family to share the gospel and install wells to provide safe drinking water. Today people are opening their hearts to the grace of God through his ministry.
The Bible talks about sowing seeds of faith through generous giving, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6). When my friend gave $2,000 he was sowing a seed of faith. It took time for that seed to take root, but to this day it is producing a spiritual harvest.
I’ve been honored to work for several Christian non-profit organizations throughout my life. Most of them have served the poor in some fashion: providing medical relief, safe housing, job training, and rescue from substance abuse. Those ministries would not have been possible without donors who wanted to honor God through their generosity.
God promises to bless those who are generous to the poor. God promises repayment for our generosity. When we give, the Bible says we are storing up treasures in heaven. Giving has given me joy. It has helped me to fight off unhealthy attachments to worldly things, and to engage more deeply in God’s priorities. The saying is true, “Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). By investing in God’s kingdom my heart aligns with God’s values and I experience His spiritual blessings.
The following Bible verses about giving teach us how to give in a way that helps others while also honoring God. I hope that they encourage you to be more generous. By giving we have the privilege of participating in God’s kingdom work.
What the Bible Says about Giving
Give to Honor God
Proverbs 3:9
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce.
Give because God has generously given to you
Deuteronomy 8:18
Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.
Deuteronomy 16:16-17
No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed. Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.
1 Chronicles 29:12-14
Everything in heaven and earth is Yours, O LORD. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. “God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”
Giving is an expression of God’s love
1 John 3:17
But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
Give to support the work of the church
Romans 12:13
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
1 Timothy 5:17-18
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
3 John 5-8
Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
Give to store up treasures in heaven
Matthew 6:19-21
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
How to Give
Give anonymously
Matthew 6:1-4
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
Give willingly and cheerfully
Deuteronomy 15:10
You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Give sacrificially
Luke 3:10
Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.
2 Corinthians 8:3
For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord.
Give with a spirit of compassion and love
Proverbs 3:27
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
1 Corinthians 13:3
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Set a goal to excel at giving
2 Corinthians 8:7
Just as you excel in everything– in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us– see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Bible Verses about Giving to Others
Loan money without interest
Leviticus 25:36-37
Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.
Give to everyone who asks
Luke 6:30
Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.
Give to those in need
Matthew 25:34-40
Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you. did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Luke 12:33
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
James 2:15-16
If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
Bible Verses about Giving to the Poor
Deuteronomy 15:7-8
If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.
Proverbs 19:17
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
Proverbs 22:9
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
Proverbs 28:27
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.
Benefits of Giving in the Bible
Deuteronomy 15:10
You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.
Proverbs 3:9–10
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
Proverbs 11:24
One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
Malachi 3:8-10
Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.