We Share Christ by the Way We Give

As he was about to baptize a new believer, the late Pastor H.M.S. Richards noticed that the man still had a well-filled billfold in his pocket. Richards asked if he’d forgotten to leave his money in the dressing room. “My pocketbook and I will be baptized together,” the man then explained. He had caught the true spirit of Christianity—giving to help others. Christians grow by giving, and that is why “Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35).

How do we make an investment in the bank of heaven?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But STORE UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES IN HEAVEN . . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
—Matthew 6:19-21.

Some people work a lifetime to amass a fortune—only to see it disappear in plummeting stock prices or business failures. But what we give to advance God’s kingdom retains an eternal value.

How much of what we own really belongs to God?

“The earth is the LORD’S, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it.”
—Psalm 24:1, 2.

“‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”
—Haggai 2:8.

We belong to God both because He created us and because He rescued us from our sins, bought us with His blood.

“You are not your own; you were BOUGHT at a price.”
—1 Corinthians 6:19-20.