GIVING PRIORITY: The Church or the Poor/ Needy

I went to church on this very good Sunday, an announcement was made that one of the church members is sick and there is need for prayers and contribution to assist in the hospital bill implying that there is going to be two offerings; the traditional offering, and the other to assist a member of the church. The church choir initiated a very nice song with a very sweet melody, everybody responded to the song joyfully, engrossed with a good song, dancing joyfully to the alter to present his/her offering to God. Some people that didn’t have their offering with them browsing at every corner of the church to see if people were looking at them as they don’t have what to offer.

One of the pastors had his offering but decided to be browsing not at corners but at people as he was looking at how people were offering, one could say he was counting how much money will go to his pocket that Faithful Sunday. There were two baskets one for the traditional offering, the other for assisting the church member, the way he was following each drop to the basket, nodding his head in the process. Though not everyone could observe his actions.

After all the dancing, singing, offering and browsing, he said something I will never forget in a hurry, I was very carefully observing how people were offering he said, immediately I heard that I sharpened my pinna to collect such an important wave my ear would love to get, he continued, and I observed that most people prefer the traditional offering to church member’s assistance, but to me, it is preferable to help the one in need than offering for the church because, the church will never die for lack of funds but the person in need may, he said even if you don’t have enough for the two, he prefer you give the person in need. To me, that was enough preaching for the day.

If we should have a scale of preference on who we should give our resources, should men of God/the church come first or someone in need?

This remind me of someone I meet some times ago we got talking and we got ourselves into this topic with some other people, who should be up our scale of preference in terms of giving against the other, everybody was giving his or her point and at a point the discussion got heightened, this man with a very matured voice that everyone would want to listen to because we felt he must have a very valid point to convince everyone and close the discussion, from the silence of everybody very keen to listen, he said, ‘’i prefer giving to men of God than giving to the needy, because, men of God have the anointing to bless me” he went further to say that giving to the poor or needy if just charity that does not attract blessings, that what attracts blessing is sowing a seed in a man of Gods life or ministry. everyone was silenced at his statement at first, after a while discussion continued, I was very silent analyzing him words by words, all the key words ringing in my head; “anointing” “charity” “blessing” I almost pick up my dictionary to check the meaning of the words maybe I don’t know the real meaning, also wondering where we got such an impression, is this from the Bible? If it’s from the Bible, where?

Then the King will say to the people on his right, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me. ’The righteous will then answer him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!’ (Matthew 25:34-40)

If you start reading from verse 31 you will understand that Jesus Christ is talking about the last day, he made it clear that caring for the needy means caring for him and with that you are called faithful, this can also be confirmed where He made mention of the greatest commandment (the Love for God and Neighbor)

Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’’ This is the greatest and the most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’

This implies that giving clothe to those that need it, providing shelter to those that don’t have, caring for the sick and prisoners, when u do all these you have fulfilled one of the laws, in fact you cannot love God without loving your neighbor, if you Love God genuinely, your will also Love your Neighbor. Jesus Christ emphasis on this a lot in the Bible meaning that you can’t do without it as a Christian.

But you said am giving to my pastor at the expense of the needy and his prayers are working for me, yes his prayers are working for you because, you gave a gift cheerfully to him and you are been blessed with what you gave, and this also applies giving to anybody else cheerfully, it is not because of his special anointing prayers. Jesus Christ instructed us to give and we will receive much more

Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands—all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you.” (Luke 6:38)
This is one of the teachings of Jesus Christ that emphasis on the power of giving and receiving.

You should each give, then, as you have decided, not with regret or out of a sense of duty; for God loves the one who gives gladly. And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause. As the scripture says,
“He gives generously to the needy;
his kindness lasts forever.”
And God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity. He will always make you rich enough to be generous at all times, so that many will thank God for your gifts which they receive from us. For this service you perform not only meets the needs of God's people, but also produces an outpouring of gratitude to God. (2 Corinthians 9:7-12)

This is Paul’s letter to the Corinthians encouraging them to help their fellow Christians. The good news is, there is always a promise to receive when it comes to giving, this I can say ‘helping others means helping you’

The second law of spiritual success by Deepak Chopra in his book titled the seven laws of spiritual success is the law of Giving and Receiving. Deepak Chopra is an Indian-American Author, Journalist and alternative medicine advocate, Chopra studied medicine in India before emigrating to the united Sates where he completed residencies in internal medicine and endocrinology.

Chopra Argued that the universe operates through dynamic exchange; Giving and Receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And in our willingness to give that which we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives, the more you give, the more you will receive because, you will keep the abundance of universe circulating in your life. In fact anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given, that which doesn’t multiply through giving is neither giving nor worth receiving, if through the act of giving you feel you have lost something, then the gift is not truly given and will not cause increase.

If you give grudgingly, there is no energy behind that giving, it is the intension behind your giving and receiving that is the most important thing. The intension should always be to create happiness for the giver and receiver because happiness is life-supporting and life-sustaining and therefore, generates increase. The return is directly proportional to the giving when it is unconditional and from the heart. That is why the act of giving has to be joyful. The frame of mind has to be one in which you feel joy in the very act of giving, then the energy behind the giving increases many times over.

Chopra didn’t make any reference from the Bible but obviously the is from the Bible; the bible is the source of everything on earth nothing has happened and will happened that is not in the Bible, it is the source where all field of endeavor tap their knowledge. So we can see that we mustn’t give to receive anointing prayers but we must give to create happiness and as such receive much more of what we have given and the intension behind our giving should be to create happiness, giving to the needy also create happiness to them and this happiness create much more of what you give to them. In fact the needy that have been yearning for such will be happier than any other person.

This is not to advocate for lazy people that don’t work but depend on begging for their survivor neither it is to advocate for not giving your offering/ supporting the church. I will rather help a poor woman who is selling something by the road side than helping the one that is begging this is because, the one selling by the road side is contributing to the growth of the economy but the other is not, also if you empower the one selling by giving her some aids she will make very good use it and probably get out of poverty but the one begging, no matter the amount of money given to her, she will still come back to beg. It mustn’t be something big, a little kindness will do, it could be that you left her with the balance she supposed to give you or you buy at her ask price, remember the intension should be to create happiness.

Visit a prison, there are people that are there just because they made a mistake and put a smile on their face or even make a way for their freedom if possible. Visit an orphanage home and look at how innocent children are suffering and give some support, possibly adopt one. Visit a government hospital (which is the cheapest) and see how some people can’t settle their hospital bill render a help by settling the bill. Do you agree with me that there are people in this continent that with just $300 their live and that of others will change for good forever? This is the Love the Bible kept emphasizing but not bribing someone to pray for you.

He who does not love does not know God Because, God is Love (1 John 4:

Giving to church is what should be done but not by force, threats or any form of manipulations or under any form of psychological brainwash. We shouldn’t be under pressure or threat to give to someone who is out there to enrich himself at the expense of others.

This is one of the reasons Africa is not growing exclusively, yes, you heard me. Imagine money that millions of people are supposed to hold is been held by one man or some few people in the name of tithes and offering collection; buying exotic cars and Private jets; to me this is greed; he can be compared to our “polithiefcians”.

Some of our political class often miss this giving priority, instead of giving to the society they are serving, they rather give to God fathers and influential people in churches and communities so as to manipulate the populace by giving them just a smell of what they are entitled to and seeking for so called special anointing prayers to succeed in their selfish political ambitions.

Why give it to one man or few selected people what so many are supposed to benefit? This could be in terms of a project that can benefit the entire community. Spread the resources to others and I bet you God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands—all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you.
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