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Kindle Notes & Highlights
God may be saying, “I won’t tell you the exact amount to give, because you need to ask Me personally, listen to My promptings, and then do it, for My joy and for yours.”
Christ’s lesson is about the enduring value and joy of discovering great treasure that represents His eternal kingdom, which is worth everything we might give up to obtain it.
Giving is a timeless principle and privilege that God invites all His people to enjoy. It brings both rewards and dignity.
Second Corinthians 8–9, the longest and perhaps most significant passage on giving in Scripture, starts with focusing on the Macedonians who lived in “extreme poverty” and gave “beyond their ability” and with “overflowing joy.” They “urgently pleaded with us for the privilege” of giving. We shouldn’t deprive the poor of this privilege.
God says, “Test me in this” and watch Me provide (see Malachi 3:10). By not telling people about giving, we rob them of the joy of trusting God and seeing His provision.
Because we speak of rewards so rarely, it’s easy to confuse God’s work and man’s. We may, for example, mistakenly believe that Heaven is a person’s reward for doing good things. False! Eternal life is entirely “the free gift of God” (Romans 6:23, ESV). Entrance to Heaven is a gift, not a reward.
