Luke is the only gospel writer to quote the powerful statement of Jesus Christ on giving: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:38) That is one loaded statement, with a principle and a promise combined into one sentence. The only thing we are commanded to do is give. The rest is to wait to see how God uses people to produce returns that are in proportion to what and why we gave.
Paul, in bidding a final farewell to the elders from Ephesus, reminded these men of God of the words of Jesus: “I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)
A minister was conversing with a man who professed conversion. “Have you united with a church?” the pastor asked him. “No; the dying thief never united with the church and he went to heaven,” was the answer. “Have you ever sat at the Lord’s Table?” “No; the dying thief never did and he was accepted.” “Have you given to missions?” “No, the dying thief did not, and he was not judged for it.” “Well, my friend, the difference between you two seems to be that he was a dying thief and you are a living thief.” (I am not sure of the source of this—only that his last name was Kilmer and I clipped this article more than 50 years ago.)
Paul Van Gorder, writing in Our Daily Bread, said that “most of us would prefer to remain anonymous when the subject of giving money is discussed. We don’t want others to know the amount of our income we have designated for the Lord. But no Christian can remain unnoticed on Sunday at offering time, for there is One who sees exactly what is put into the plate or left in the box by the door.”
He continues: “To impress this truth upon his congregation, John A. Broadus—(1827-1895), American Baptist pastor and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—left his pulpit one Sunday morning and stood beside an usher as he began to take the collection. The pastor went with him up the aisle and observed every coin and bill that was given by parishioners. Some of them were angry, some were confused and ashamed, others were amazed, and all were surprised. When that part of the service was over, Broadus went back to the platform and began his sermon. He based his message on the incident in the life of our Lord when He observed the widow casting her two mites into the treasury. Then he concluded by saying, ‘My people, if you take it to heart that I have seen your offerings this day and know just what sacrifice you have made—and what sacrifice you have not made—remember that your Savior goes up the aisles with every usher and sees every cent contributed by His people.’”
Winston Churchill said, “You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.”
Song writer C.F. Weigle tells the story of a man in New England who had been unemployed so long that he had come to his last dollar. He laid fifty cents of it on the offering plate on Sunday. The following morning, he heard there was a possibility of his obtaining employment in a neighboring town. The railroad fare to the town was a dollar. It looked as if he should have kept the fifty cents that he laid on the offering plate; but with the fifty cents that he had he bought a ticket and rode half-way to his desired destination. He stepped from the train and started to walk to the town. But God had something better for him. Before he had gone a block, he learned of a factory near at hand that needed help. Inside of thirty minutes, he had a job with a wage of five dollars a week more than he would have received had he gone on to the other town. The first week’s pay brought back to him his fifty cents tenfold. That man was W. L. Douglas, the shoe manufacturer.
These stories are old, and they illustrate truths that are even older; yet these truths still work today. God will bless you in 2026 if you give generously with a motive of pleasing Him and ministering to others. One study revealed that personal giving in American churches was 2.5% of the household income (Protestant churches) and that 25% of the members give 75% of the total contributions.
When Zacchaeus came to know Christ as his Lord and Savior, he was a changed man. Before coming to Christ, he was known pretty much as a crook; after meeting Christ and being converted by the New Birth, Zacchaeus was ready to give half of his wealth to the poor and to return fourfold the amount of money he had taken dishonestly.
“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom….” Take God at His word this year. Keep a running total of the returns. You will never go back to miserly giving.
“Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.” (Eccl. 11:1)
YOU and GOD 