The Privilege of Giving

On Sunday, I had the privilege of attending church service at University Community Fellowship (UCF) in Kampala. Although Uganda is a very “Christian country,” I am learning that the state of the Church and the teaching presented in local churches is often not very biblical. Unfortunately, the prosperity gospel is thriving here and it’s not uncommon to hear pastors encouraging their congregation to give generously so that they can receive wealth, health, blessings, and material things from God. They have changed the hope-filled and God-centered message of the true Gospel into a self-centered scheme to get rich quick.

At UCF, we heard a wonderful sermon about Biblical giving that openly rebuked the prosperity gospel. How refreshing! The pastor was preaching on 2 Corinthians 8:1-15. His main points of the sermon were that Biblical giving is

• A privilege
•  Passionate
• Planned
• Has a promise of blessing
  

He had wonderful things to say about all these points, but he described the privilege of giving with an illustration that I won’t soon forget. He asked the congregation, “Before you go to the village, what do you get from the market?” Everyone started listing off things: sugar, salt, flour, black tea, blue band (a common margarine here which has also been referred to as “butter flavored Crisco”).  “And why do you do this?” he asked. “Because when you go into the village you bring things to give to the people you’re visiting. You bring sugar for your family and probably enough for all the people around them who also know you’re coming! You give your family the sugar and flour and tea, and they invite you in for a meal. Soon they are serving you black tea. Then they bring you some bread that was just baked. With what? The things that you brought, of course! So why do you always go to the market before you go to the village? Because you will be eating the things that you bring!”

He continued the illustration by explaining that your family is giving you the very best they have. Even though it was made from the gifts you just bought and gave to them that day, they are generously offering you the best that they can. They consider it a joy to have you there, and they see serving you the very best as a privilege. They took what you gave them and give it right back in order to bless you and show love.

This is how it should be in our relationship with God, as well. God has so graciously given to us.  The problem is that we think those blessings and resources belong to us.

He pours out blessing after blessing into our lives, but as soon we have them, we claim them as our own and hoard them away for ourselves. We are deceived into thinking that these blessings have been ours all along. We forget about the Giver and focus only on the gifts.

Rather, we should remember that everything we have is not ours at all. It all belongs to God, and we should rejoice at the privilege of giving and sharing with others as a demonstration of our love for the Lord. 

Whether it's sugar and black tea or love and forgiveness... It all belongs to the Lord, and it's our privilege to give freely.