Spiritual Discipline: Giving
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: … to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter; … and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Isa 58:6-7)
In this season of Lent, we chose to spend time on Spiritual Disciplines as our subject of study and practice. The discipline of giving and generosity is one of those that are a must if one is to please God. Giving is part of worship to God, service to fellow people, and it gives fasting a truer and greater meaning. The Prophet Isaiah writes about generosity as part of the kind of fasting that the Lord desires – which means that fasting without generosity is insufficient and will not be fully effective. Have you made the effort to seek God more deeply in this season with fasting and prayer, meditating on the Word of God and attending the mid-week services? Generosity is a must add-on.
There are many types of givers: some have donated land or furniture to the Church, while others bring huge sums of liquid cash. All these are welcome. Some give secretly while others would enjoy some recognition; still this is acceptable. Jesus is inspecting our giving in the same way he did on that Wednesday afternoon at the Temple. On that day he witnessed the many types of givers and also noted the amounts – large, medium and small. But there was a particular widow who brought the least amount, just two small copper coins worth a few cents; and Jesus noticed her too (Luke 21:1-4). There were many lessons worth learning from this woman, and the Rabbi pounced on this opportunity.
Give Sacrificially: The widow is said to have given all that she had to live on as if she was about to commit suicide! But interpreters claim that she trusted God to supply her needs and therefore sacrificed her all. It must be true because there are many examples both in Biblical times and in our age where such sacrificial giving will be a trigger to immense material blessings. When you give and it pains, it is a sacrifice indeed. Albert Barnes the Bible Commentator notes that it is our duty to devote our property to God. We received it from him, and we shall not employ it in a proper manner unless we feel that we are stewards, and ask of him what we shall do with it.
Give Sincerely: Not that God did not receive and appreciate the others who gave medium and large sums of money; but among them were some who only compared the amounts, and others who gave from their ‘left-overs’ without a true passion for the House of God and sincere worship. Your heart is what God wants first before you bring your hand. May the Lord increase in you the grace for giving and generosity as a discipline, that your fasting and prayers and worship may be acceptable and your blessings come speedily.
God bless you.