"My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. "
Philippians 4:19
WHO BENEFITS?
Read It: Philippians 4:17-19
Let me ask a question. Who benefits most from a gift to God's work? You might say, "Well, that's obvious. The recipient does." Really? Paul teaches us here in Philippians 4 that the primary beneficiary of your faithful ful stewardship is you. And I don't just mean the warm feeling you get inside when you help someone. What the Bible is talking about here goes far beyond that. Look at the financial terminology Paul uses in verse 17: "profit which increases to your account." Whenever you invest your time, energy, talents, ents, financial resources-whatever-for the benefit of God's kingdom, God deposits blessing into your heavenly account. It's like accruing interest, est, gaining profit. Your gifts are like the sweet savor sacrifices of the Old Testament-offerings offerings the Israelites weren't required to give. They were gifts made to God out of love and devotion. So when those offerings were burned, God smelled the aroma and smiled. It was "well-pleasing" to Him (v. 18).
Now lest you think Paul is just talking about "pie in the sky by and by," we're now ready for verse 19. It's to people who give to God freely, out of a heart of love without concern for the bottom line, that the promise of needs met is addressed. You're not ready for verse 19 until you come to grips with verses 10-18. There are two ways this promise can be abused. One is called prosperity perity theology: "I'll give so I can obligate God to pour out His blessings on me. I'll just pile all my bills on the table, and He has to pay them. I've got God over a barrel." But God will never be in debt to anyone. Another potential abuse is the idea that my needs include a new house, new car, new wardrobe, etc. The Philippians themselves help to fix that notion. They were poor, but God was giving them life's necessities. God calls the shots on this, not us. The only thing you and I need to know is that you can't outgive God. So we can give freely, knowing that God honors faithful stewardship. Think About It God is not limited by our accounting methods. When He does the math, a little can equal a lot!
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