Will Giving to a Cause Give Us God's Favor?

By Rev. Ernest O'Neill

Loved ones, it is easy to fall into that deception, thinking that this group is doing God's work, or this man is doing God’s work.  We can be deceived into believing that God cannot be displeased with us if we give money to the group, or that it will not do any harm anyway -- or that he surely will not forget it when I meet him at the end of this life.

Now, loved ones, God gave a clear answer to that in the early church, in Acts 8:18:  "Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, 'Give me also this power, that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.' But Peter said to him, ‘Your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!  You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.  Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.  For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.'  And Simon answered, 'Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.’"

Let us give money.  Let’s give it with joy.  Let’s give it as unto God -- because he has given freely to us.  But, loved ones, let us be clear that gifts of money are given from a heart that is filled with love -- because it has received God's forgiveness.  Gifts of money never obtain God’s forgiveness.

Loved ones, we cannot get into heaven because we are part of the elite supporting God’s work with money.  If we give money, let us give it as a fruit of our salvation, not as a means of obtaining our salvation -- because we cannot.