Giving Til it Hurts.

Jesus said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God! Luke 18:24

Jesus said this after a rich young man turned away when Jesus asked him to sell all he had and come be one of his disciples.

All his disciples had left their jobs to follow Jesus. They all depended on the offerings and gifts of those who believed in Jesus' work. It was risky. Jesus had nothing with which to pay them wages. Peter was married and presumably had children. James and John had worked with their father in the fishing trade. Their father must have had to hire other workers. Matthew was a tax collector and wealthy; Jesus had probably asked him to sell everything too.

Jesus once sent his disciples out to preach and heal the sick. After they returned from their trip he asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" "Nothing," they answered. God will supply our needs when we work for him.

There is a story of another rich man, Zacchaeus. He was also a tax collector. In those days that occupation was looked on with disgust. Most tax collectors lied to the people and charged them more than the Romans had asked for. Also, people hated paying taxes to the Romans.

But Zacchaeus had heard of Jesus' teaching and had repented. He heard Jesus was going through town and wanted to see him. He was surprised when Jesus told him he would come to his house.

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham."

It certainly isn't a sin to be rich; but it is important what we do with our money. All of us, rich and poor. All through the Bible God tells us to help the poor. I like what C.S. Lewis said about giving, "Giving to the poor is an essential part of Christian morality. I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I’m afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, and amusement, is up to the standard common of those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little."