If we don’t reach out in our giving, as individuals and as churches, we miss out on a central aspect of biblical teaching: God’s deep concern for the poor and needy. It was said of King Josiah, “He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” (Jeremiah 22:16).

When we choose not to give, we miss out on several things:

1. Christlikeness

Christ is the ultimate giver (2 Corinthians 8:9). “Grace” is giving, and Jesus was full of grace and truth. Giving is an expression of his basic nature. We give because he first gave to us.

2. Great Privilege

When the Macedonians were told they didn’t need to give because they were so poor themselves, they “urgently pleaded…for the privilege” of giving to the needy (2 Corinthians 8:4).

3. Blessing

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

4. Evangelistic Opportunities

So many of these opportunities come when we reach out to the poor. ­Jesus said people would know us by our love for one another. After explaining how the early church would sell their assets to give to the needy, Scripture tells us God added to the church’s numbers daily (Acts 2:47). No wonder, since their radical concern for the needy could ­only be explained by a powerful work of God.

5. Eternal Rewards

By failing to reach out to the needy, we miss out on eternal rewards, because ­Jesus said if we give to those who can’t pay us back, God himself will pay us back by rewarding us in heaven (Luke 14:14).

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