SHARING

And God is able to make all Grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work – 2 Corinthians 9:8

One of the most unique dimensions of Grace is Sacrificial, SHARING or Giving Grace – that which enables you to live a life of selfless sharing and sacrificial giving (2Cor.9:8). Giving is integral to God’s Character: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable Gift” (v. 15). No one can outdo God in giving. Sharing Grace ensures good stewardship of life, time, talents, and treasures, knowing that that these are a trust from God, to be used for the benefit of humanity in grateful acknowledgement of Christ’s redeeming love. Giving is an act of obedience in God’s honor. God will not be generous with you if you have been stingy with Him or others: “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich and he adds no sorrow with it” (Pro.10:22). The question of how rich you’ll become in Him depends on the following: your spiritual maturity, your God-given assignment in life, your willingness to put Him in first place when it comes to finances, and exercising your faith.

Giving is like sowing: “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly” (2Cor.9:6). Every seed sown has potential to produce a harvest. But the farmer has to go and get that harvest. Similarly, faith, plus obedience, draws the harvest of God's blessing into your life. In addition to giving of your materials blessings, you’ll derive a great sense of joy from giving yourself to others and seeing them mature in return. You were created to give to others, and to receive what they have to give back. In giving you are fulfilled, and in receiving you are made complete. Anything less is just mere existence. Your flourishing is in bringing blessings to others: sharing an inspiration; giving a word of encouragement; demonstrating compassion; offering a helping hand; forgiving an old hurt; or giving sacrificially. King Solomon and his people displayed sacrificially grace: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep, the largest sacrifice recorded in the Bible (1Kg.8:63). They knew that: when you open your hand toward God, He opens His Hand toward you – and God has the biggest Hand!

The Grace of Giving was also aptly illustrated in the case of the widow of Zarephath. In the middle of a devastating famine, God sent the prophet Elijah to Zarephath, saying he would meet a widow there who would feed him. God didn’t send Elijah to a wealthy family because they didn't need a miracle; the widow did! When Elijah asked this widow for something to eat, she told him that she had “only a handful of flour in a bin” (1Ki.17:12). She had just enough for one more meal, then she and her son would die. Yet, this was to be the best day of her life! By grace she was about to step into miracle territory. But first she had to overcome the fear of giving: “Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear...make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me...For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up...until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth”" (vv.13-14). As she obeyed the Word, Grace flowed and “the bin of flour was not used up" (v. 16). Day after day, unfailingly, she reached into the bin and found more flour. Grace answered in her time of need!

When you obey God’s Word, you’ll experience His grace, and He will meet your every need. You will never out-give God! Whatever you give to Him, He promised to give back “good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over” (Lk.6:38). If rather than open your palms to give, you clench on tightly to what God has blessed you with, how's He going to fulfil His promise? “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35b). It is your Season of Grace. Begin to tap into God’s Giving Grace, and be lifted to the rewarding realms and life-enriching peaks of productive stewardship.