Posting here the message I’ll be sharing later in service at offertory time.
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”” Genesis 12:2-3 NKJV
This was the promise that God made to Abraham. God says, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” It’s like God saying, “I will do to them what they do to you.”
it’s somewhat related to the Golden Rule that says, “Do to others what you want others to do to you.” or “Do not do to others, what you don’t want others to do to you.”
Combining the same principle, it’s like saying, “Do to others what you want God to do to you.” or “Do not do to others, what you don’t want God to do to you.”
You see, what goes around comes around. Whatever you sow, you reap. Whenever you give, the same measure will be given back to you.
But I’d like to take this to the next level. Have you heard of the phrase, “pay it forward?” It got me intrigued that I searched for its meaning and uses.
“Pay it Forward” is an idiomatic phrase which means that if something good happens to a person he turns around and does good for someone else. The idea here is that instead of paying back to the person, who has helped you, the good deed is passed forward to someone else. http://www.innovateus.net/innopedia/what-does-idiom-pay-it-forward-mean
This is generally linked to spreading acts of kindness to the whole world. You be kind not just to the person who was kind to you, but you become kind to others who may not know you or may not have the capacity to pay you back with good.
How does this relate to us in relation to our giving?
TITHES
In our giving of tithes, we basically pay back what belongs to God. God blesses us with income, and we give back what is due to Him through tithes.
OTHER FORMS OF GIVING
When we give our offerings and fulfill our pledges or when we are generous in meeting other people’s needs, we actually pay it forward. While our giving remains as unto the Lord, we realize that what we do to others, God will also do for us.
– We bless the Church, God blesses us.
– We sow into the future generations, God lets us reap blessings in our generation.
– We bless the nations of the world, God blesses us in different areas of our lives.
– We bless and refresh others, God does the same for us.
And this works, even when we do it while not expecting the person or the organization at the receiving end to return the favor. So pay it forward, God will be the one to bless us for that!
Turn to your neighbor and say, “Let’s pay it forward”.
TESTIMONY
As you all know I’ve been in CHC for more than 10 years now. I’ve participated in every Arise & Build campaign since I first came in 2001. This year had been tough for my company as many of our clients have been hit by various forms of global crises and found it tough to invest in attending our corporate events, especially those from oil & gas.
Our sales targets were higher than last year despite the market conditions and I felt that this career is no longer worth fighting for so I expressed my interest to resign. They didn’t accept it but instead looked into my situation and sought to address the issue of ambitious targets and high expectations. To make the story short, I was given more realistic targets to hit. In fact, instead of just 1 target each quarter I was given 2 targets coupled with incentives each month starting September til year end.
Last month, we hit 1 of the 2 targets and that was the same amount I pledged for the 1st installment of Arise & Build. Usually I put the biggest amount in the first month of pledges and spread the balance among the remaining 3 months. As I aim to hit the rest of the targets this year, hit or miss, I will seek to fulfill my vows as soon as possible.
I choose to not only pay back to God through tithes… but pay it forward to the church.. to many generations.. to people I may not even know because God says in His Word,
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.”
Friends…what goes around, comes around. Let us pray.
