As part of the community of saints, we need to examine ourselves to ensure that we are indeed building and not tearing down the body of Christ.

Are you promoting a gift that builds up one person (tongues) or a gift that builds up the church (1 Cor. 14:5-12)? The significance of this is laid out in Numbers 11:21-30. In the face of pressure upon one, God raises up helpers without diminishing the principal. This is His way of giving more grace when the burden becomes greater and not only when the burden is greater, but when the assigned work is expanding (Acts 13:1-4). Thank You, Lord for You truly care for Your servants (note Num. 11:14-16).

When love and edification are missing carnality and disorder set in (1 Cor. 14:33). We must never forget that the most important of all gifts is love (1 Cor. 13:1-3,13). Whether tongues, prophecy, faith or giving, they can only be beneficial from being motivated by love (Gal. 5:6; 1 Thess. 1:3).

When greed and deceit replace honesty and generosity, it’s time to repent. In the evolution of the faith, a principle was laid down by the Lord that is the bedrock of generosity of both spiritual and material endowments (Matt. 10:8). The objective of spiritual generosity is well stated in Luke 4:18-19. The spiritual gifts and endowment bring release from all forms of bondage, both physical and spiritual.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Luke 4:18-19

By His indescribable pain and suffering in the hands of us all, He was making all things new. By the sacrifice of His life, withholding nothing, we became a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 2:20), and in time all of creation will be freed from the tyranny of Satan and the deceitfulness of sin (Rom. 8:18-23; Rev. 21:1-5).

Where then is the place of greed and deceit knowing that freely we received, why hold back what we did not get by our power, particularly when giving fulfils the objectives of the Master Giver! 

Generosity brings prosperity, but withholding from charity brings poverty. Those who live to bless others will have blessings heaped upon them, and the one who pours out his life to pour out blessings. Proverbs 11:24-25 (TPT)

Generosity must not be to win commendation of men (Matt. 6:1-2) and there is no need to go beyond what you honestly and conveniently can give (2 Cor. 8:12).

• Don’t withhold more than is meet (Prov. 11:24),
• Don’t fall into the Ananias and Sapphira mode (Acts 5:1-11). Probably motivated by a desire for commendation, they lied and deceived, and they were judged. What would have been the good of generosity was cancelled by the evil of their deceit!

Take heed to these things. Selah

Pastor Afolabi Oladele